House of Cards
by RulerOfCats
Summary: Death has a strange sense of humor. I had failed in protecting my teammates, and as a punishment, I am thrown back in time and into the body of my killer no less. Growing up in a family of assassins who cared more about money than kin wasn't easy, but neither was inhabiting the body of that very same assassin who slaughtered my friends. Itachi/OC
1. Prologue

Prologue

The world had to be turning my life, and now my death, into one big joke.

It couldn't of been a mere instant after my death, with me, standing over my blonde and bloody corpse, for me to be reborn. Like, literally reborn. Many people would be a like, 'well at least you get to live again?'. Like no. Fuck you.

I'm living the fucking dream right now. Shitting my pants. Learning how to get my chubby legs to start moving like some crippled little bitch.

But this story isn't about me literally shitting my own pants.

Now, death isn't so bad, what with my life being such a big bore. I was a medic, and I graduated with no remarkable skills other than being a very talented medic. My Chakra control was probably the only thing I could brag about, but sadly, I was never much of a fighter.

Ironically, I chose to be a medic because I had been afraid of death, and of fighting and the like. It wasn't really some noble need to help people or stop death. If it hadn't been for my sister's murder, I probably wouldn't of been a ninja at all. But when my sister died, all the pressure of going down the ninja path fell on the next born. So going into the academy hadn't really been a choice, since my parents practically forced me.

If I could be reincarnated, at one time I would have wanted to open a bakery and maybe get married. I had always dreamed of such things in my life as Kazama Misaki. It had been my life's goal, but then my teachers found out about my innate ability for healing, which was rare among academy students and thusly pushed me into Iryō-Ninjutsu.

I had begun to think I just wasn't meant for making my own choices in life.

I still remember my hands, glowing green over the crippled body of my fallen teammate. I still remember the fear, hastening my touch. I remember looking towards the forest as the sound of footsteps, crunching fallen leaves, scurried around the clearing.

I remember the adrenaline, making my heart pound into my chest and echo through my head. "Don't you dare die!" I ordered, looking down at Hikaru, who slightly smiled at my tone.

"You have to run," he whispered, almost harsh as he spat up blood. He could barely speak, and the hole in his lung was beginning to fill with blood.

I felt my eyes begin to tear up, frozen in my place. "I won't make it far. You'll have to help me." I said urgently, still attempting to close the wound. He glanced at my shaking hands, and his palm weakly cupped my own.

"This isn't..." He coughed again. "Your fault."

"You took the hit for me...of course it's my fault," I replied, feeling my tears restricting my ability to talk. The salty liquid had begun to suffocate me.

"Misa...ki..." His eyes were wide, and he shoved me out of the way, the last of his strength leaving him. In the place of where my body was, a blade shot through the air, cracking into his skull.

His blood splattered against my face, my eyes wide as my bloody hands, that had been pressing against his wound, drifted to my face as the crazed eye of his killer darted to me. She was drenched in the blood of my fallen teammates, and her orange hair was scattered and messy. Her right eye was covered in bandages, making her look all the more daunting.

"H-Hikaru," I felt myself stutter out, just as she removed her katana from his skull. The sound of the slushing of blood and brains made me want to vomit, but fear (and palm pressed up against my lips while my other shook in a tight grip on the grass) kept it at bay as she draped the bloodied blade over her shoulder.

"Don't scream, little girl," the woman whispered, oddly calm, and was in front of me in an instant, her speed rendering me speechless. "I love the silence." She murmured, her face was warped, like that of a demon and her one eye that was showing was glowing red with Chakra. Her fingers, thin and nimble, tore off the bandages around her eye. Her other eyelid was open, and black, sucking in my gaze and my voice and everything that had once been Misaki Kazama. The Chakra was radiating off her and I found myself staring into her gaping black void of an eye, that was swirling with a dark Chakra.

I screamed and I saw her face warp into annoyance before she gave me a wide, Cheshire cat grin and her fingers tore into my throat and ripped out my tongue.

And this is how I died.

As the darkness drifted around me, I didn't feel anything. Not the fear nor the pain. I couldn't see anything but the blackness of nothing. Was this death? An endless stream of nothingness? I couldn't even bring myself to care.

And that was when I heard the voice, echoing into my ear.

"Do you want to die, girl?" The voice was mechanical, neither male nor female, but deep and almost demonic.

I found myself at a loss, in between yes and no. "I don't like Misaki Kazama..." I finally said, my voice free of emotion. "She was stupid and weak."

The voice chuckled into my ear.

"Is that so? Do you wish to be strong, girl?" The voice asked, and I shrugged, having no feeling in my mind.

"I don't care." I stated, and I felt as if the darkness was staring at me. As if I was in the belly of a monster and it was all just looking at me.

The voice laughed, and it sounded like nothing I had ever heard before. "What do you want?"

"..." I was silent, almost thinking. "I want to be important...more than a memory. Misaki will be forgotten...I don't want that. I don't want to be afraid of anything...ever again nor do I want to be haunted by memories. I don't want to die, weak and cowering in tears. I want more than strength...I want everyone to memories, while I stand and shower in power."

"There are so many memories in life."

"Memories fade over time...I don't want to fade along with them."

"Quite the ambition for a dead girl."

"Fuck you." I retorted, but there wasn't much emotion in my comment and I heard the voice laugh again.

"I hope you don't come to detest your inner desire, dead girl. I will enjoy watching your desires play out...lets hope we don't meet again, _dead_ _girl_..." The voice said, and almost sounded like it was fading toward the end or my hearing was fading. I wasn't sure which.

But after that I don't know what was going on. All I knew was that it was sticky and too warm and I couldn't breath and it smelled.

I remember crying, with such a high pitched, siren sound that I wanted to die...again. I remember feeling cold and the world was black and I was being passed around.

Not many people could say they remembered their own birth, and I think there is a reason for that.

It fucking sucks.


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's shitty note**

 **Summary:** I died. That much was certain enough as I noticed my entire throat was gorged to the point where I could see my own tongue. I vaguely remembered the pain of it all, and now that I was dead, I saw that death itself was finding humor in my suffering. I had failed in protecting my teammates, myself, and even managed to fail in dying as well. And now I find myself thrown back in time, and into the body of my killer no less. Death seems to have quite the sense of humor.

Am I expected to change what has come to be or watch history repeat itself?

One problem with controlling fate. I'm eight years old.

 **Possible Pairing:** Itachi x OC

 **Disclaimer:** I only own Tsukasa. Kishimoto can have the rest.

* * *

Chapter 1

Six hours. That was how long it took for me to completely lose my patience. By this point, it was twirling one of my throwing knives that kept me sane. My eye was closed, and a bit of my hair was whipping in my face from the wind, despite the fact that I had cut and styled it short to make this not happen.

At this point, I was fairly close to heading back to Konoha by myself. This was strange, belonging to Konoha that is, as I was fairly certain that this girl was a Kiri ninja when she killed me. Knowing a part of the future was a real pain in the ass and a burden more than anything else.

Although, changing parts of the future had to be easy. I could literally wake up one night and be all like 'time to kill the Hokage' and like that the Leaf is destroyed by Orochimaru.

My eyes widened, my grip on my kunai slightly lessening as I stopped twirling the throwing knife. _I could be like God_. _Smite the wicked and all that bullshit._

I sighed, twirling the knife again; my form lazily sprawled on the rock.

 _Sounds like a lot of work, if you ask me._

It wasn't as if I even could kill the Hokage...or anything even remotely near his level. I wasn't even old enough to be seated on the big kid's table, which was probably one of the most reoccurring annoyances of my life. It of course wasn't the worst of my problems, but I digress.

My grip on my kunai slightly tightened just as I heard the sound of ruffling in the bushes. I didn't stand up as my sister's target came charging at me the moment our eyes caught. My umbrella, open and resting on my back, kept the rain from my face. The moment his hand rose, a fist of water spurred out with such force that I could hear it against the wind. It didn't look to me like he was attacking me maliciously, and more so seemed like he would of attacked anyone to get them out of his way. He was running away from something.

Before he could hit me, my sister flash stepped in front of me, taking the full force of the punch against the water and rushing through it to allow the fist to collide against her cheek.

The man's gaze upon her changed as I felt my sister's Chakra pound from her body. My legs were still crossed, and I paid no heed when her hands slithered around the man's wrist. His face was horrified when he met Kira Izana head on, and the point of her Chakra had already begun to change and maul her face. She paid no head as she pressed her fingers up against the man's face, despite the way he attempted to squirm away from her strengthening grasp.

"I'm going to finger fuck your eye sockets," she whispered, and I found my eye rolling back as I almost scoffed.

"G-Get away from me," he stuttered, and she grinned. The moment I saw her fingers go for his eyes, I turned my head away. All I heard were his screams as she fisted her fingers into his eye sockets and pulled.

It was silent after that, and I heard a thump as the man hit the ground. Before a word could be spoken, she appeared in front of me flattening her bloody palms in front of me as she held out both eyes, one on each hand with the optic nerve in between her fingers. With the way she held it, mocking, as it looked like her hands had eyes.

"Don't turn your eye away, dear sister," Kira laughed, bringing the dead eyes into my face. "I got them for you. Maybe you can choose which one you like and have two eyes again." She laughed harder, before completely crushing them, before the blood could splatter against my face, I brought my umbrella out in front of me as I swiftly moved aside and twirled the umbrella back over my head, so fast that I didn't get much of rain on me.

The moment I was in standing position, ignoring her jab at my one eye, I turned towards her, noticing that her eyes were still struggling to return to normal as they looked white and wide as cloth of a stitched doll. Slowly, as she caught my gaze, her expression began to return to that of Kira Izana.

When she was finally back to normal, or as normal as an Izana can be, she dropped to her knees with her hands covered in blood. She stared down at them, her eyes wide in shock as I stood by her, my umbrella blocking out the rain from both of them.

Her eyes, now back to their original hazy blue, lingered on the Ame ninja she had killed.

"You finished your job." I murmured, my voice was soft so I began to wonder if she could hear me. "Who cares how you had to do it?"

She wiped her hands against the grass before standing up, knocking my umbrella to the side so it no longer covered her. I blinked, watching the rain start to wash the blood from her hands. She bent down and grabbed the Ame nin's headband, tying it to her leg and adding it to her collection. She made a motion for me to come closer, and I found myself sighing, gripping the bottom handle of my umbrella before pulling, showing the glint of steel that showed from the holster that was my umbrella.

I took a calm step forward, kneeling down next to the man and digging the point of the needle like sword into the middle of his neck. I felt my face warp slightly as I extended my Chakra into the sword, making it spread like a cleaver at the tip and cleanly chop the man's head off.

I pulled out a storage scroll and sealed his head into it as I felt my face begin to warp and twist. I saw Kira give me a glance, but said nothing against it. I looked down at my hand, noticing the whiteness of my skin had paled considerable, but quickly went back to normal.

I grabbed the scroll, shoving it into one of the six storage containers I had strapped to my belt. I gripped onto my blade and used the moisture of the rain to help wipe the blood onto the dead Ame Nin's jacket.

"Never had a Ame headband before," Kira murmured, her leg held a Kiri, Kumo, Iwa, and now Ame headbands. She held her hands up and performed a quick fire Jutsu, setting the body on fire while I continued to twirl my umbrella over my head.

I wasn't exactly sure when we would pass the borders of the rain country (having never been good with geography), and it looked to me that Kira was walking on pure power of will at this point. I made no offer to help her, as being only eight years old had its setbacks and limitations of strength.

Also, I was still bitter about her obvious mockery of my loss of an eye, among other things.

But traveling alongside Kira did have its perks -as long as she was still breathing and still high off the earlier Chakra release, I was, in theory, allowed to sleep throughout the night.

Downside was that her high on adrenaline and Chakra made her have very few differences with that of a rabid dog or a Chihuahua with more bark than bite. Soon, I found that sleep was impossible, as I couldn't seem to drift with her excessive and random chortles and hisses. The crackling of the fire did help to soothe me into a calmer state, but that calm state still required me to be awake.

So I was now awake, cranky, and watching the fire crack in the night. My mind was rather blank, which was pretty cool for being dead, and I soon found myself shuffling my deck of cards. Kira watched, her eyes drawn to the skillful way I played with the cards.

Nimble fingers had been required, as my time being Misaki had escalated. Tsukasa however, had no such skill and I had found myself having to reteach my hands its old tricks. The irony that I was training the body of the girl who had killed my entire team wasn't completely lost on me. It wasn't difficult to put the two and two together, especially after I lost my eye, but I had to commend the reaper. He did have quite the sense of humor to place me in this body of all the billions available.

What a fucking dick.

"Was that something you picked up in the western countries?" Kira asked slowly, just as I cut the deck and began passing out the cards and towards the imaginary player. "Was it fun in the isles?" She mused, obviously not looking for an answer, and being a lazy eight year old, I didn't press the matter.

The lands beyond the elemental countries were beyond what I had visited in my previous life, and I was a little jealous that some eight year old got to have more adventures than I did. I think that this was the only thing I was jealous of, well, that and that Tsukasa actually lived in my memories.

At this point, I couldn't even be certain what time period I had been thrown into, as the Tsukasa who killed me didn't exactly give me a chance to ask her age. Traveling wasn't so bad, and I did learn the art of poker and how to give a lap dance while stealing a man's wallet. I doubted that they meant to teach me that, as they hadn't the sense to realize that I wasn't actually six years old.

I had never even seen such a dance in my previous life, and I had quickly found myself stuck watching.

I wasted no time to make a shadow clone, who sat securely across from me. The shadow clone wasted no time in grabbing the cards and crossing her legs to sit down across from me.

"Now that's just depressing," Kira commented, laying her head against the ground. My expression didn't change as I stared my shadow clone down, five cards, loosely placed in my hand. I pulled two down, and she did the same after we both raised the ante with the money I had earned from the mission and pickpocketing Kira for a couple thousand ryō.

She raised my bet and I found my eyes caught onto hers, not knowing whether she had a hand or was simply bluffing. Just before I placed my cards down, I felt my shadow clone go up in smoke, having ran out of time and her cards quickly found themselves dropping to the ground.

I looked at them, scoffing at her weak hand.

She only had a jack as high card -bluffing with nothing. If this was a real match...

Kira's snore caught me off guard, as she was never one to sleep after a kill and her form was indeed uncomfortably tense in her sleep -making it obvious that she had forced herself to sleep. She probably got sad with my pathetic attempt at playing with friends, which wasn't too surprising.

As Misaki, I had loads of friends. I was a delight, albeit a bit weak and I cried too easily. Tsukasa however, didn't have anyone. After I lost my eye at 3 years old, rumors began to spread around Konoha. I had been noticed by the academy children, and soon after I found out why my family was reluctant to send me to school. It seemed like the Izana clan wasn't well liked in Konoha, so the moment I began to get noticed because of the whole, gorged eye thing, no one would let me play ninja or talk to me at all.

I found myself frowning at the thought.

I am a grown woman. I didn't want to play their stupid children's games anyway.

I sighed, taking out one of my storage scrolls and activating the seal. After the cloud of smoke dissipated from the seal, I grabbed my tea and I wasted no time to pour myself a cup, preparing myself for the night's watch.

雨 ︎雨

In the morning, as I soon found, was cold and still had the late night's morning dew, lingering in the grass. The smell was fresh and clean, but I wasn't able to appreciate any of it from my obvious lack of any sleep. Kira had proved to unreliable and I soon found her sleeping past the sound of my throwing knives, landing and surrounding her form. Having nothing to do to keep up the long night, using her as target practice was my only amusement.

Obviously, Kira came out unharmed, proving my aim needed more work and training.

Other than that, the road to Konoha was uneventful, and I began to wish that we would eventually get attacked. I even began to act more vulnerable for shits and giggles, but soon found that not many people traveled from Ame in the mid winter.

Watching the unprepared Kira, struggle in the rain, seemed to be my only major source of entertainment in the day. At night, we were both annoyed with the weather and found that sleep wasn't coming to either of us. We instead settled for hating each other openly, as we couldn't scowl at the weather.

"This is because of you." She commented after an hour of sleepless rain.

"How?" I had asked, and her knees squished into her chest. "I didn't ask you to escort me back. I could have made the trip myself." I replied, and her face furthered in annoyance.

"You're like five. You aren't even potty trained yet. I was being a good sister you dick," she retorted and I scowled.

"I'm eight. I was potty trained at 1 and fuck you. You tried to sell me to that Hanzo Ame Nin guy." I retorted, just as bitterly.

"How did you know about that?"

I didn't answer to her question and it went on like this for three days, with little over an hour of sleep, until we reached the foot hills, nearing the country of fire. At this point our only company came from the merchants on the road. No matter how many times we crossed paths with one, they seemed always surprised that an eight year old and a woman no more than sixteen, were traveling in the dangerous roads leading to Konoha.

I had no problem with being underestimated, and swiftly found myself in card games with many of the traders we met on the road.

"Pay up mister," I said, shuffling the cards as the man grumbled something along the lines of 'this is bullshit'; which was a reaction I had long since gotten used to in my years of making little old men cry like little old bitches.

He reluctantly handed me a couple thousand ryō. Kira merely watched as I collected from five merchants along the road, until by the time we were on our last travel day, rumor had spread faster than we could walk about the infant child who was scamming people out of their money.

Being compared to a toddler was beginning to grow more and more annoying, but I was even more annoyed when no one wanted to play against me.

That being said, I was back where I left off.

Bored as fuck.

Also, sleepy. Big surprise there.

By the time we made it to the village gates, I was walking on the tips of my toes, just to have something to do so I wouldn't fall asleep whilst walking. I had found out earlier that day that doing so was completely possible and if Kira hadn't of saved me I wouldn't be alive. The sun was also still annoying and growing the closer we got to Konoha, so I used my umbrella to keep the shine from my eyes. My time in the Ame village really brought up my dislike for the sun, much to my past self's very tan dismay.

The guards seemed to stiffen at my sister presence, and I tilted my head to the side as they stared my sister down, barely sparing me a glance.

"Kira." They said before finally giving me their time of day. "Who's the infant?" Fuck you, I'm eight.

"My little sister. Back from her six year travel. She doesn't have current identification, we are going to get it reinstated now," Kira stated, almost sweetly, which seemed to make the guards grow more nervous as they swiftly let us in, without even asking for Kira's obviously non expired ID.

We walked past, and I found myself scoffing, despite being tired.

"What?" Kira asked and I shook my head.

"Konoha has shit security," I replied, specifically remembering the time when the two S-Ranked criminals, Itachi Uchiha and Kisame fish-sticks had been _eating_ at a fucking restaurant. They hadn't even bothered to remove their Akatsuki cloaks.

Dumbasses. Every one of them.

I shrugged after hearing Kira's indigent scoff. What should I expect from a village who has their own police force killed? Now that I've visited many of the far western countries, I could personally be one to vouch for the revival of a system where Konoha's enemies can't walk into the village gates and eat ramen.

But maybe that's asking for too much.

"Best get this head to the client." Kira said after letting out a slight scoff, obviously not interested in the gate guard's lack of a job.

"Not like it's going anywhere," I commented in return, and she shook her head.

"Yeah, well, I'd like to go somewhere. Preferably in a nice bed with real food and less uninvited company," she retorted, causing me to frown.

"You invited me. I was perfectly comfortable traveling alongside Ichigo." I replied, not wasting much breath in arguing with her.

"What will sister think with you walking into the village with a branch 6 member?"

"I'd say they'd be impressed I'm alive, considering you all abandoned me in the Jōmae Village." I retorted, and she scoffed. A village full of talented ninja, good at collecting all sorts of information, and yet not one of them knew how to find a lost three year old's family. I am not saying I had been exactly helpful in the search and no one really listened to me anyway. It was difficult to explain the situation since I was three and my lips and throat weren't used to excessive amounts of speech.

"It's not like we meant to leave you there. As you can see we've had more on our minds than taking care of a 2 year old."

"I was 3."

"Whatever. Tomato, tomoto." She replied, waving me off as we walked along the path towards the client's home. I didn't bother retorting, knowing that it was useless.

"For 6 years."

"You're alive, Tsu-chan," Kira retorted. "And I came back for you."

"After 6 years. And you didn't come for me." If she had come back for me, she'd be in the Land of Keys, not Rain.

"What else could I have been in Amegakure for?" She asked, incredulously, and I mirrored her look as I came to an abrupt halt. I held up the sealing scroll, which she looked at for a moment, as if she forgot.

"You're alive. And you're getting paid upon return." Her black hair curled over her shoulder as she bent over to look me in the eye. "I'd say it is a win, win, dear sister." I stared at the small, green flower tattoos just above her eyebrows, spitefully.

I didn't particularly care about bonding with my immediate family, and this was especially since the Izana clan was a group of nut jobs. Not to mention it was separated by the weirdest competitive branch system. It felt more like living in a geisha house rather than a home. Or maybe a bordello? I wouldn't be surprised if half of them prostituted themselves for money, considering money was their favorite thing.

It wasn't my ideal choice at reincarnation, as I found six years ago, when they left me in the Keys. A one eyed toddler, abandoned in a nameless country while they all competitively chased down their bounty. Like yeah, I was 18 in mind, but they didn't know that.

It wasn't a horrible 6 years, as I soon found out that there wasn't that many people who wouldn't help out a 3-year-old child. A crew of traveling entertainers, who raised me around 6 years traveling around the countries, picked me up. I would still be with them if it weren't for Ichigo Izana, from branch 6 of the Izana clan, who took me back. And then I got stuck with Izana Kira, one of the three siblings who abandoned me.

I was, at least, starting to figure out why Tsukasa went insane and killed around the countryside.

I was starting to have the urge as well, but not to kill everyone, just Kira Izana. Although, I suppose, that could be because of my blatant lack of sleep and patience.

We were soon at the front of the iron gates, and I handed Kira the scroll, allowing her to turn in the head so we could get paid. Since I wasn't originally on the pay roll and was only eight, she made me wait outside until she was finished.

And so I waited...for an hour.

I sighed, pressing my head into my knees as I started to get the inkling that Kira ditched me and took the reward for herself. Even though I was the one who she made track the guy down, go in disguise, and cut off his head.

My fists clenched in annoyance as I slowly stood up, trying to calm my anger as I walked away from the gates.

It was official. I really hate my new family.

:::AUTHORS NOTE:::

Okay. So first official chapter. It's coming along. I'm trying to slowly build up to their Chakra and abilities. Misaki, or rather, Tsukasa, doesn't know much about her family since she had only been with them for 3 years.

It's all coming along.

Since Tsukasa's family will have a more... _creepy_ edge to them, I figured three years is enough for her. They will definitely have a more...edgy edge to them than any of my previous stories, so I hope it will turn out okay.

For Naruto stories, I think that I really like the idea of the OC knowing the future and I do enjoy reading about fangirls coming to the Naruto universe. I like them. So that's why I decided to create this story as it is. I don't want to write about a fan girl coming to this world because I feel like I will somehow, unintentionally, make it similar to another's fan fiction. I don't want that. I am a fan of originality, so my hope is to make this story, you know, original.

For the most part, there is no romance in this story. At least not now. Tsukasa's story isn't about finding love. That's not her desire at all. I feel like that was Misaki's desire prior to her death. So I hope that you all read on and don't put much faith into me putting romance in this story, cause I don't think it's going to happen.

But I'm fickle. If I reread this and grow to like a pairing, then I might, but this girl's like...18. I won't be pairing an 18 year old girl with a 9 year old. And I don't want to pair 20 year old dude with a 9 year old. Like...gross.

This guy will get stoned or something. With rocks. Omg.

Anyway, please enjoy this story. I hope to make more soon! ^-^

I edited the coverart, but I didn't create as that belongs to BlueBloodShi on photobucket. She's an amazing artist and I highly recommend checking out her work.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The moment I got near the Izana complex, I made no motion or attempt towards getting back the money Kira owed me. All things considered, I had seen far too much of her for my liking, and I was fairly certain the feeling was mutual. I barely remembered the Izana clan's barracks. I considered myself lucky to even remember the location at all.

The branches were closed off, and the road towards branch one was filled with flowers, adorning the pathway and overlooking the large Zen Garden that was flowing and freshly raked. The fact that it really did resemble a Geisha house wasn't unfamiliar to me, and I found my eyes glancing over the surroundings, still rather uninterested.

I vaguely caught the glimpse of the back of someone's yukata. It looked brand new with its completely wrinkles form and bright color of crimson sheen. I glanced away from the bright white hair –a clear sign of branch three.

I continued walking towards the bridge, which was small and curved over a thin body of water. There was no creaking as I walked over it, as opposed to the last time.

The Izana branch one complex was… _richer_ …than I remembered. It seemed like more money had begun to flood to the outside image of it, and I swiftly found myself vaguely impressed at the glamor of it all.

The house itself, where I used to recede, looked empty, and the doors were locked. Glancing at the sealed and windowless home, my tired and lazy eyes scanned the surroundings. Being away for so many years made it fairly difficult to decide just how I was going to get inside.

Having already knocked, I decided that Kira had either gone out drinking or was undoubtedly sleeping. I let out a quiet sigh as I looked down at my hand, forming it into a tight but lazy fist. My skin slightly discolored as I brought my Chakra into my hand, spreading out through my fingers. I glanced towards the door and brought my fist back before finally slamming it into the oak, shattering it completely.

I yawned, walking over the broken bits of wood and hearing it slightly break from underneath my steps. At this point, I didn't give two shits about where I was going to sleep and I walked towards a random room.

The walking I had been doing for so many days had finally caught up to me and I collapsed, my legs shaking and red as my body hit the soft and random mat.

Unable to stay awake for a moment longer, my eyes closed and my world turned black.

葉 ︎葉

I was fairly certain that the Izana family was probably the best and worst family I could have been stuck with in this vast universe. Best, because I'd rather not get close with my killer's family or any new family, thus making the distance and chill of the Izana clan all the more inviting. Worst, because they were all raging assholes that would sooner choose money over each other.

It was made even more obvious of this fact when my eldest sister, Izana Asa, walked into the room I had unknowingly fallen asleep with and kicked me out of her bed. Quite literally having no problem in kicking an eight year old out of her mat, never mind said eight year old was her sister, and settled for sleeping in her place. Asa Izana didn't spare me a single glance as she curled up in her blankets and closed her eyes.

"Shut the door on your way out," Asa murmured as I merely stared at the black haired girl, who almost immediately closed her eyes. In a mere instant, I noticed dried bits of red, decorating her hair as well as a bit more dry blood, stained against her neck.

I merely rolled my eyes and walked out of the room, paying her no heed as I shut the door behind me and walked out.

The house was just as empty feeling as I remembered, much different from the caravan with which I had traveled. Every morning was filled with light and laughter. It was new every day and back then felt like life was more in color.

I began to wonder why I had come back at all.

葉 ︎葉

Sinking into my seat, I found my eyes drawn onto that of the 4th Hokage.

For the first time, I knew what era death had thrown me.

Smug, pretentious cunt.

The conversation was long, boring, and rather uneventful. His questions were short and to the point. I hadn't met with the 4th in the past, as he had died around the time I was like one or two years old. Seeing him in person instead of on a mountain was pretty cool, I guess. He did look remarkably like the loud mouth Naruto, who, according to the local gossip as Misaki, is like his son or something.

I heard that the 4th Hokage had sealed the Kyuubi, so that just makes this _hilarious_. Dad of the year right here, no doubt.

"Follow up question, where were you?" He had asked, to which I, as an eight year old with an 18 year old's mind, didn't know how to answer without outing my family as assholes.

I really _didn't_ want to deal with the backlash of pissing off a group of trained killers who had no problem abandoning a child in a different country.

"Family." I answered after a brief pause. "I was with family."

"Why is that?"

"My sister thought I needed to get out of the village and it would do me some good…" I was fairly certain that the report the Izana family had filled the time where I went missing would cover this, but I suppose he wouldn't be a leader if he just let it slide.

"Why is that?" He asked, glancing up from the report that Izana Asa had no doubt written. Being the head of a clan did have its responsibilities so I couldn't say that Tsukasa's eldest sister was a complete slacker. Shit babysitter though/

"My mother died and my father gauged out my eye," I answered in a deadpan, causing him to slightly wince. "Bad memories…you know." At this point I wasn't even trying to put emotion in my voice and talking about the memory didn't really, like, feel like I was talking about me. It was fairly easy to keep my distance from all things Izana related. He was obviously taken back from the lack of tone in my voice, which made me think he would have trouble conversing with me any further.

Misaki had been so emotional, but as Tsukasa, I had found that emotions seemed to come to me slower. I suspected this was how she had been able to kill people so easily. Not that I was planning on killing people – I just feel like if I _did_ , I wouldn't feel guilty for long.

It helped that I was detached from 'Tsukasa' and I think that the perceptive 4th Hokage was beginning to understand that.

"Why aren't your family with you now?" He asked and I blinked in return.

I shrugged.

"How is your life at home?"

I shrugged again.

"Are you happy where you live?" He asked and I gave a deadpan blink.

"Ecstatic…can you not tell?"

He seemed taken back, and he gave a slight smile, but I could tell he was growing increasingly uncomfortable. I almost chuckled.

"I would very much like to speak to your guardian." He finally said after a long pause of us just staring at each other.

I wish I could say that she would like the same. "I don't think you would." I replied after a pause.

He sighed, leaning back against his seat. "I'm afraid that I must insist. While I admit you are very advanced and mature for your age," _so he could tell,_ "but you are still underage and I can't renew your citizenship until I speak to your legal guardian."

Wow. I'm like, super bored.

"I see." I replied.

"I will send someone to escort you back home," the 4th said, and I had to stop myself from frowning. _So now I can't even walk home by myself._ "Once home, you can get your sister and bring her in.

"That's sort of annoying." I said and he raised a brow, but didn't dignify my comment with a response.

A minute didn't even pass until a silver haired Jounin that I recognized as a much younger version of Kakashi Hatake, walked into the room. He looked a lot grumpier than the laid back teacher I remembered.

I wasn't that familiar with him on a personal level, but it was hard to _not_ know the annoyingly famous unit of team seven. Especially when a member goes rogue and the others are trained by legendary senin. I even remembered my old, long dead (or…alive now? In this time he was definitely alive) teammate Hikaru would often make jokes that their team got special treatment despite there wasn't much special or remarkable about their abilities.

It was bullshit.

"You called," Kakashi said, and the more I looked at him, the more I noticed that he was in fact younger by at least 8 years. Good look for him. I'd say about 21.

Mentally, we were almost the same and yet he was no doubt going to treat me like a child. The thought still kind of pissed me off.

"Escort mission." The 4th said, his face empty. Kakashi's expression didn't look very amused.

"Is this a punishment?" Kakashi asked, and I leaned back into my chair watching the interaction with very mild amusement.

"Seems so." I commented before standing.

"Take her back to the Izana complex and then be sure to bring back her eldest sister, Izana Asa," the 4th mentioned, before writing a quick note on a piece of paper and handing it to the silver haired Jounin.

Kakashi looked visibly irritated, but took the note regardless, reading it before glancing towards me. He shrugged and turned to walk out of the room while I silently followed behind.

The silence was rather nice, as both of us were obviously displeased with the development. A part of me was slightly curious as to what the note had said to silence the irritated future sensei, but the more dominant part didn't give two shits.

The walk would obviously be long, as the Izana complex was annoyingly close to the Uchiha complex, which was on the farthest end of Konoha. If I were a Jounin, I'd be pissed to walk back with an eight year old too.

"The fourth thinks the Izana house is an unsuitable environment…doesn't he?" I asked, boredom outdoing my desire for silence. "You're here to make sure?"

Kakashi glanced at me, his hands in his pockets. It was strange to see him not reading his perverted book, as when I was Misaki that was what he always read when walking through the streets. Maybe he doesn't whip it out in front of children.

I scrunched my nose in disgust, not liking the sound of that last sentence.

"You're a rather perceptive kid, aren't you?" He said, continuing to walk.

"Not really." I replied, yawning into my palm. I can just see through men. It had become a natural thing when I was with the traveling group of entertainers. I had met more people, interacting and watching, than I had in my entire life as Misaki. You learn things when you travel with freaks, swindlers, and jokers.

And people naturally let their guard down when faced with a child. It's like they want to make it easy for me.

Kakashi raised a brow, but didn't respond. I had a feeling that he didn't believe my rejection of his statement.

"If it was a hostile environment, what then?" I asked and Kakashi shrugged.

"Usually, kids get sent to the orphanage and then get assigned to a new family based on the family's desire for a child." He said, as nonchalantly as if he were talking about the weather.

I noticed his one visibly eye drift to my bandaged eye, and at that moment I didn't have a doubt that he didn't know about the Izana massacre five years ago. The obvious event, which had turned me into his fellow one-eyed buddy.

I hadn't heard much about it in my last life, as the Uchiha massacre had put it in its shadow. It seemed like Konoha could only remember so much tragedy at once. I wasn't too surprised since the Uchiha massacre was obviously more… _famous_. And the clan was obviously more…known. An assassin clan didn't really like to become a hugely known family while the Uchihas had no such affliction.

Hell, maybe I could get a front row seat to said disaster. Make a party out of it.

Especially if I go to an orphanage, judging by Kakashi's expression, it was likely no one would want to adopt a one eyed child of a murderer. Izana had never been well liked.

"Ah." I finally answered in my near tone-less voice.

I doubted it would come to that. The Izana compound wasn't hostile…just quiet. Silent as the grave, but beautiful. It held the eerie calm of a dollhouse, and everyone seemed to move at a slow and silent pace…and it always felt like you were being watched. Creepy was the correct word, which I couldn't doubt was the result of our… _unique_ Chakra that flooded the shadows and lingered on your skin.

It was going to be strange, bringing an outsider into the first branch, as outsiders rarely ever visit for all the reasons stated above.

"I don't think it will come to that." Kakashi said, confirming my earlier speculation.

葉 ︎葉

Asa Izana didn't look too happy to be woken up, and when she looked at me, she looked like she couldn't even recognize me. Her long black hair, still thick with dry blood, fell over her bare and pale shoulders as her kimono dipped below her elbow. This revealed her skimpy, and tightly bandaged chest. Her murky brown eyes stared back at me, exhaustion clear in her face.

When recognition finally settled her expression, her two fingers raised and poked me in my bandaged socket before she giggled like a schoolgirl.

"We all thought you to be dead." She stated with another rather feminine giggle. "Which was a shame cause I had thought of so many jokes, ne, patches? Cyclops?" She yawned out the last demeaning name.

I found myself sighing; having seen the eye jokes already coming from the moment Kira opened her mouth to make the first one.

"Ichigo said he'd represent as my guardian in your stead," I cut right to the chase, leaning against the open door. "We figured you'd be too busy to get me reinstated in the village."

Asa's smile almost immediately disappeared as she straightened her back. "Who said I was busy?" Her voice was hoarse, and when she stood up, her kimono slipped down to her ankles, revealing her in pure bandages and skimpy black lace panties. "A branch 6, offering to represent _you_." She scoffed, ignoring her near naked state as she walked to her full-length mirror, her fingers drifted to the bloodstains on her neck. She wasted no time to use the damp towel, still soaked in a dish of water, and brought it to her body, wiping off the blood.

"Leave." She ordered, as her earlier amused tone had disappeared. I wasted no time to go, closing the sliding door behind me.

I scoffed as I walked down the hall. Mention anyone from any other house, and Izana's just _flock_ in your hand. It was just too easy.

葉 ︎葉

I noticed that Izana Asa was actually _likeable_ when she cleaned up and spoke to the Hokage on my behalf.

I was actually impressed at just how almost likeable she was. Complete two-faced witch, but at least she knew how to pretend to care. I can't say the same for me or any other Izana I've ever met, aside from Ichigo of course.

It seemed like it was physically _difficult_ to care about anything. I tried when I was with the caravan. The amount of times they tried to make me laugh or smile…well, it just never ended right.

It was easy to medically diagnosis myself as a budding sociopath, and I wasn't that surprised. To be a hitman, you kind of need to be. It was annoying, however, that the change in my personality only hit me with use of my Chakra. Izana bullshit right there.

Still not worse than dying I suppose. However, being in a room with my sister's oddly charismatic charm made me doubt the alternatives.

Sometimes I saw a look flash through Minato's eyes, slightly giving me the impression that he saw through Asa's flood of bullshit. But the look would disappear before I could fully tell. I thought I had been excellent at reading men, but the 4th Hokage seemed to be that rare exception.

Thusly, I got my license renewed and by Asa's charm, I wasn't placed in an orphanage.

Can you say damn it? A part of me was slightly hoping for an orphanage.

葉 ︎葉

"I don't want my sister to go to the ninja academy. I'd rather have her trained at home like Izana custom." I remember Asa stating, much to my surprise.

So I wasn't going to have to live through my academy days again. Oh, sister, I could kiss you. I don't have to be trained by some idiot sensei or relearn how to fire a kunai or make friends with kids years younger than me.

This was probably the only blessing I've had in all my time as an Izana. Then again, I suppose it hasn't been too bad and traveling without consequence or work was rather enjoyable. Especially since I had see parts of the world that I hadn't even known existed to me as Misaki.

A part of me, that distant traveling glow, knew that isolation couldn't be good for me. It knew that half of me was still submerged in the darkness of this house and of our name.

I knew all of this, and yet the longer I lived as Tsukasa, the less I cared about the words and wisdom of Misaki.

My desire still stood up high in the distance.

I didn't want to die like she did, forgotten next to broken comrades. The ninja academy and the Leaf ninja's way brought Misaki's fate upon her.

And even if I have to submerge and drown myself into this darkness, well, it's not like I have anyone left to bring me back from it. An Izana isn't born to need friends or caring family members and no one cares if one of them dies.

I guess I have no other choice now, but to be Izana Tsukasa.

Being brought back here by the forceful fist of Kira Izana taught one thing.

Nothing in this world is so simple.

No matter how much I wanted to stay traveling the western and northern world didn't matter.

And my fate was sealed here from the moment I opened my eyes and from the moment I lost one.

I am Tsukasa now, no matter how little I want to be.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Does the word 'smile' mean nothing to you?" Kira repeated, much to my continued boredom and disbelief that she even had to ask.

"I thought you were going to teach me how to fight, not become a smiling puppet whore," I answered, for the first time since she started asking me questions. Kira took a deep inhale of breath, causing her giant tanned chest to push slightly past the skimpy robes that she obviously had no interest in fully closing. She narrowed her bright blue eyes as she brushed tiny bangs away from her tattooed flower, just above her eyebrow.

"Listen, the only reason we are allowed to leave this village so much is because we have the name of merchants," she leaned forward, giving me full few of both tattoos just above both of her brows. I couldn't help but think they were ugly, with their green shade that obviously went well with her piercing just above her lip and another just below her lip. All of this hadn't been there the last time I had seen her prior to abandonment. I guessed she got them done while drunk, because no sane person would decorate their skin like this on purpose.

This went especially for the disguise to sell this dignified charade as a merchant, because as a person looking at her now, I wouldn't buy shit from her. Of course, a reason for that might not be her outer appearance and more of the fact that I would rather she was dead.

"No one is going to believe that someone like you, with your dead eyes, could make a single sale. I've seen dogs with more human personality than you," she continued and I tilted my head to the side at her lecture.

"I should hope so. Many dogs are capable of showing human characteristics, such as fear and joy. Not to mention most nin-canines are capable of speech."

Kira obviously didn't appreciate my informative response as she almost immediately grabbed me by the chin, her grip strong and tight, causing a tiny formation a bruise begin to mark my skin. "Smile." She ordered but I didn't speak, although, this could because her grip on my chin prevented such, but mostly it was because I had nothing to say to her continued badgering of smiles and rainbows. She roughly let go of my face and leaned away, her legs still wide open with one knee propped up with her arm resting on it while the other laid curved and flat on the ground in a very twisted and even more informal agura style of sitting. My position remained in seiza-style with me kneeling on the mat with my legs folded her my thighs with my buttocks resting on my heels.

Sitting in such a position was apparently part of my training, which she didn't have to partake.

She waited for me smile, and I slowly decided that obeying her would make both our lives easier. With our little adventure together, we learned that we obviously didn't get along; what with her being a raging, bossy, bitch among other things.

I slowly smiled, but it felt forced and no doubt look ridiculous. Kira scoffed as she drank a bit of sake from the ochoko, resting in her flat palm. It's round, cylindrical shape fit perfectly for her needs as she took another sip and spun the liquid in circles as her eyes scanned me before she slowly laughed. "I was right. Dogs do have more personality than you."

I didn't bother to correct her as my face returned to a deadpan. "Did I not expose enough teeth? Did my lips not curve to the right level or somehow look unsymmetrical."

"Too much teeth. This isn't difficult. Surely you've smiled before," Kira said with a slowly forming frown.

 _Not much since becoming Tsukasa,_ but I couldn't tell her that on the grounds that I didn't want to, so I settled with silence. I could already tell that her question was rhetoric, as she would rather hear herself speak anyway.

"This is stupid." I finally stated after a couple minutes of us staring at each other.

"It wouldn't be stupid if you didn't have the default expression of a straight line," came Kira's smooth retort, causing me to raise a single brow.

"Yes it would. I would be smiling about it, dumbass," I retorted, and she looked ready to claw my other eye out.

"What did you just call me?" Her voice turned calm, almost eerily calm tone that probably would have scared anyone who wasn't me.

"Did I stutter?"

"I am teaching you out of the kindness of my heart."

"That doesn't even exist."

She leaned black, and I vaguely heard her count to ten as I felt her Chakra spike from her fingertips. Izana Chakra usually, easily, became visible to the naked eye, so I was vaguely impressed that it wasn't now. Kira had obviously learned a bit of self-control, unlike the memory I had of her prior where she tired herself out from screaming and emitting Chakra as if it were air. Perhaps she learned her lesson of being less of an idiot, but I doubted that very much.

Kira had never been an intellectual, and usually let brawn and rage drive her over the edge.

"I'm done." I finally said once she opened her eyes, calming herself down.

"What the fuck do you mean you're done?" She snapped, and I shrugged.

"I'm bored. I want to fight. Not make gigglies and learn how to bow and fake a smile."

"Being fake is a key to living as one of us," she replied, her voice lowered in a reasonable calm. "You won't get far in this world if you don't know how to lie with your face and your words."

I slowly sat back down, and stared her in the eyes. "Teach me a Jutsu."

"You can't handle knowing a Jutsu. Not yet."

"Why?"

She stared at me, before leaning closer, her eyes blank and bored. "Mold your Chakra in a circle and release through the air."

I remembered the exercise as Misaki, so I held my palm flat without question. It was one benefit of growing through these years twice; I never needed to be told twice on how to do something. The Chakra rolled in my palm, and I found feel my skin whiten and saw the skin of my once colored wrist, turn pale as if I were dead.

"You're not ready." She said, and I broke off the ball of Chakra. "You will lose control at this rate. The Chakra will eat you from the inside before you become unable to suppress your urges."

"How do you know my urges?"

"We all have them…Izana's just have more. Learn to control your Chakra without letting it control you, and I'll teach you fighting Ninjutsu. For now, stick to the innocent type."

"There is no such thing as innocent Ninjutsu."

"Quite. But walking up a tree will be less of a strain to kill something than learning how to breath fire or whatever your elemental type is, I don't care."

"It's fire."

"Don't care."

"And water."

"That's weird."

I only shrugged and she sighed, leaning her head on the Kotetsu table. I merely watched her mild breakdown, as her obvious dislike of me grew more obvious to the point where I was watching her struggle to stay calm. If anyone, in my opinion, shouldn't like some, it should be me.

"Are you done?" I asked, watching her bang her head on the table once more. She didn't seem to like my voice as she swiftly stood up.

"Tell you what. You reach 9 meters, walking up a tree, without changing your physical appearance and I will teach whatever the fuck you want."

"Would you like me to try smiling again?"

"Shut the fuck up."

"Language." I said with a blank stare.

"Fuck you."

"You're cursing out an eight year old."

"I wouldn't have to if this eight year old wasn't a little bitch."

"I learned from the best."

She looked proud, obviously thinking I was talking about her, "I try."

"Not you."

葉 ︎葉

The moment I reached the training grounds, my eyes scanned for a tall enough tree. I found one in the clearing a little distance away and immediately walked to it. The training grounds were empty, which never was the case when I was Misaki. It was nice, finally have this one to myself as I remembered getting up early to practice, but there was always a team already using it. If my memory serves, that was usually Kakashi's team, which was my only honest reason for really disliking them.

I glanced up and measured the height before taking out a kunai and hitting the 9-meter mark. It might have been off by a couple centimeters, give or take, but I didn't worry about it on the grounds that I didn't give a fuck.

I felt Chakra sore through my body and I applied it to my feet without a moment's hesitation. I felt my eyes skin lose color, and my Chakra suffocate me, but I ignored that as I attempted to keep control of the output as I began to walk up the tree. I had never done this as Tsukasa, as the moment to climb trees had never really come up in my journey, but I knew how to mold Chakra of this level.

In theory, it should have worked, but I found that theory always made me its bitch. My Chakra didn't obey me and after half a meter, the Chakra in my feet gave out until I fell flat on my back. I didn't move, stunned that I lost control and let the Chakra slip, as before, I always prided myself in Chakra control. I had been certain that I could take this control into my next life, but it was like my own Chakra was rejected me.

I stood up, forcing my Chakra back into my feet as I walked up the tree again. I remembered that walking straight up was difficult as Misaki, as her strength had always been lacking in the athletic department. I made sure to fix that at a young age, and now I was shaping this body to be far more limber.

Flexibility and strength or Chakra control. I never thought I'd have to choose between them. This was bullshit, but I forced myself to walk up anyway. Without much progress, I fell back down.

"Ow." I muttered, and in a mere moment I was greeted with the presence of two boys, hovering over me.

"Are you alright?" The first boy asked, and he had dark, short, spikey hair while the other one was slightly shorter with longer hair in a ponytail. They both had dark eyes, but the boy with the ponytail had noticeably deep tear-troughs underneath his eyes. They rang a familiar bell with me, and I slightly mused his face in my head.

The spikey haired boy offered his hand, and I gave it a once over before I allowed him to help me up. "Fine." I answered, staring back up to the kunai that remained at the top of the tree. A scowl formed on my lips before it went back to normal.

"You fell pretty far," the spikey haired boy seemed unsure, and I wasn't surprised since I probably looked like I was five years old or something. Tsukasa's body certainly took its time to grow. I'll say that much.

"Slight concussion, probably," I answered, turning to look at both of them.

"Well, I noticed that when you were climbing, your Chakra flickered on and off," the tear-trough boy said, and I noticed he couldn't be more than 7 years old, maybe eight.

"How?" I asked, turning my body to look at both of them.

The tear-trough boy's eyes suddenly turned red, with a single black tomoe. I raised a brow, finally remembering his face, "You're Itachi Uchiha." I said without thinking, and the boys looked surprised. I slightly chided my mouth as I stared at the future criminal.

"Wow! Are we both so well known?" The spikey haired boy grinned, as if he was happy for that fact. "What's my name?"

I shrugged, and he looked visibly disappointed which I was vaguely amused at, but I didn't make that fact known. Itachi lips formed a gentle smile as he pat the slightly older boy's back.

"I'm Shisui Uchiha!" The boy's previous moment of depression immediately vanished, and was replaced by an excited, burning passion. "Don't forget it!" He pointed straight at me, and I could almost see the shadow of Itachi Uchiha's cloud above him. I imagine it must be difficult to be a friend of a prodigy. I remembered, albeit it was vague, but the girls my age had always spoke fondly of the Uchiha prodigy. I was only slightly older than Sasuke, so when I vaguely remembered him picking his brother up in the past. And then I graduated and he killed his clan. It was all very fuzzy.

I glanced away from Shisui, and controlled my Chakra into a ball.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Shisui snapped, and I didn't look at him, instead my eyes scanned Itachi.

"Is it still flickering?" I asked, and Itachi tilted his head, obviously noticing the sudden discolor of my skin, but he didn't say anything about it.

"Yes." He answered, his Sharingan deactivated a moment later and I nodded.

"That sucks." I murmured, glancing back up at the kunai, and it started to feel much farther away.

Shisui looked still, almost, physically offended at my obvious lack of recognition of his presence. I didn't make his inferiority complex my problem, so I continued to ignore his annoyance.

"You're control of Chakra is impressive for your age, but the way I see it, you have no control of how much you input, making it go from strong to weak," Itachi explained, and I was slightly impressed that someone so young could come to that conclusion by looking at it for less than a minute.

"I have the Sharingan too," Shisui whined, and I glanced his way.

"Do you want a medal? Maybe a prize?" I asked, and his lips formed a grin, obviously not affected by my insult as he placed an arm around my shoulders.

"Now you get it. Cower in my greatness," Shisui said with a grin as the force of his arm around my shoulders slightly sunk me into the ground.

"Get off." I ordered in a monotone.

"Not until I get my medal," he replied, and Itachi let out a gentle smile.

How about I shove that medal up your ass.

"How about we spar? If you beat me, I'll…" Shisui broke off, his lips pouting as he tried to think. "I'll buy you food."

"What do I get out of this?" I muttered, as I wasn't exactly looking forward to spending time with him long enough to get this supposed food.

One thing I noticed, was that neither of them made any note of the bandage over my eye. This was impressive because children were usually the first to ask.

"You get food and my presence," Shisui said with a grin.

"Shisui," Itachi warned, and Shisui's grin didn't fade.

"Worry not, Itachi, I'm just going to make her remember me." Shisui said simply, and I finally nodded.

"Fine." He immediately got into position and I noticed that his form was flawless. I had graduated in the past and knew enough Taijutsu to tell that his stance was perfect.

He was fucking eight and he already had such a head start. I didn't comment on this as I merely stood straight, almost bored and waiting for him to attack.

He also had the advantage of having two eyes, "No Sharingan." I slowly said. I could tell that Itachi was used to Shisui's attitude, and made no move to cover of his exasperated smile. From what I remembered of Itachi in the past, his smile had always been strained, but the boy next to me seemed free in a way that didn't fit my memory. As for Shisui, I only had a vague memory of him, and mostly it was of his suicide that became the gossip of the village when I turned 8. After the Uchiha massacre, gossip about the deaths became the talk of the village until I couldn't turn a fucking corner without hearing the name 'Uchiha'.

"I don't need it," he said with a grin, and after that there was no more hesitation, as Shisui's body spiraled in a swarm of leaves before disappearing. I didn't have too much time to act as he appeared behind me, and slammed his fist into my back, throwing me forward.

I always had a problem with actually being caught off guard for long, and like a cat I landed on one hand, flipping backwards until I was on my feet again. It would have been annoying if I had decided to wear my clan's more appropriate dress ware, as it never did to well in the Taijutsu factor. There were too many sleeves and too much of a drag on the material. The moment I saw what Kira had thrown in my closet, I immediately tossed it out of my room, partially because they were ugly, and partially because seeing her scowl was the highlight of my day.

I had grown sort of attached to the outfits I had gotten during my adventures, as they were practical and limber. Easy to move in and most of all, they covered my body in thin black spandex that didn't reveal my skin, but also wasn't too hot. I also never had a liking to open toed shoes during _both_ my lives, but it was hard to get much options at my age, so eventually I settled on flexible shoe that would allow my feet to curve, but not break against rock or other sharp objects. Being the paranoid soul that I was, I made sure to get the ones that died in ribbons up my calf.

Overall, it was the flexibility of my clothes that allowed me to appear nimble in the face of adversity.

Admittedly, Shisui's Jutsu had caught me off guard, as teleportation was advanced and now I had a bruise on my lower back from his punch. But, his actions allowed for a memory of the great Shisui Uchiha to surface in my mind. I hadn't labeled him as important when I saw him, but eventually the name 'Shisui of the Body Flicker' came darting in my mind.

"Shunshin no Jutsu?" I murmured in a low tone, watching as his lips curved in a grin. I jumped back, my eyes narrowing on him as he rushed forward and his speed was impressive. It was only when he was halfway near me, that his body flickered once more.

I raised a brow, feeling his presence behind me. His fist came straight for my back, and I felt forward, flipping onto the ground and landing on my feet, spinning to face him once more. My face remained impassive long enough to see his eyes slightly narrow in surprise.

"That was impressive…" Shisui mumbled, as if he didn't like giving me credit. "Your reflexes avoided the hit at the last second…you're fast."

I saw Itachi's Sharingan activated from the corner of my eyes, and my shoulders shrugged.

"Fast enough," came my monotone response as I straightened. "Your Shunshin is good…but limited…you don't have enough Chakra to go far."

"Enough to beat you," he said with a competitive grin that caused my brows to raise as his body flickered and darted in front of me. My reflexes were better, as Taijutsu was all I worked on these last eight years, from the moment I could walk. I ducked under his fist, my body kneeling and spinning my leg under his feet, which he surprisingly jumped over and flipped behind me.

I placed my hands flat on the ground behind me, before flipping my body backwards, and twisting my body to face him before I wrapped my legs around his waist. My hands instantly wrapped around his wrist as I squeezed my legs around his waist hard enough to make him look physically winded while his back hit the ground and I sent a pulse of Chakra, strong and flickering, into his body from my hands.

His fingers twitched while his eyes widened as I all but sat on his waist.

He was slightly breathing hard, most likely from the Shunshin that took up too much of his Chakra. I hadn't broke much of a sweat, but there was a tiny flush of exhaustion on my cheeks as I jumped off him, unofficially calling it my win.

"You fight like a cat," Shisui said, still laying on the ground, stunned that he lost and I was starting to think he had been beating kids so often that he didn't take defeat so well.

"You are quick. Your punches are strong, but your body flicker Jutsu isn't ready for combat. It wears down your Chakra too much," I said, and his laugh startled her.

"I guess you were right, Itachi!" Shisui jumped up onto his feet, rubbing his wrists with a good-natured smile.

"Told you," Itachi said with a gentle smile.

"Well, you kicked my ass, so I'll accept your criticism. You're reflexes are near flawless, but your Chakra control is pretty crappy," Shisui commented, and I found myself slightly offended, especially since I had been a medical prodigy in my last life. My Chakra control had been the best in the class.

Izana Chakra was bullshit.

"It flares out in strong waves, but then it kinda feels like a tickle," Shisui said with a smile as he placed his arms down to his sides.

"A tickle?" I murmured, and it was difficult not to be annoyed, but I said nothing about it. There were times when I could control it perfectly, but most times it flared out and exhausted me. When I was younger, I figured that I would grow into it, but four years later and I am still lacking.

"But the spar was super fun!" Shisui said, scratching his head with an even larger smile. "I have to admit…I'm a little pissed that you beat me." I had a feeling that he only ever got beaten by Itachi, as my memory of the academy days were hazy, but no one ever fought like he did. I may have been excellent at Chakra control in my last lifetime, but in no ways had I been a fighter.

That was why I died last. Medics usually do.

"Well, that's 1 to 0. I'll get you next time," Shisui said, his voice nonchalant.

"Next time?" I asked, as I didn't realize I had just entered some kind of childish rivalry, but the moment I saw Shisui's smug smirk, I begun to think that he wasn't giving me a choice.

"Well, can't let the scoreboard stay this way, what would my admirers say?" He said with a smirk and Itachi turned his head, as if to hide a smile. Shisui didn't miss it. "Screw you, Itachi."

Itachi glanced his way, his face composed as he tilted his head to the side. His eyes held an almost playful edge, despite his composed face.

"So, what class you in? I've never seen you at the academy." Shisui stated, and I blinked.

"I don't go to the academy," I said simply.

"You're not gonna be a ninja?" Shisui's face held a disappointed frown and I shrugged.

"Suppose not." I said, and now that I said it out loud, the thought kind of pissed me off.

"So what? You gonna sell flowers for a living?" Shisui's voice sounded sort of offended and Itachi's lips contorted in a frown.

"Shisui." Itachi warned.

"Come on, 'Tachi, that sucks. She's obviously got potential," Shisui's voice was starting to be the one of reason, as I hadn't thought exactly about my future. I guess I had focused so much on not wanting to repeat Kunoichi classes that I hadn't really put much thought on anything. Izana weren't ninja. We were swindlers and killers and merchants.

I had no particular interest in being an assassin; despite the fact that it was illegal, I was certain the pay was good. I guess I just didn't care enough to think of my future, especially since I was annoyed at my placement in this body.

Annoyed for eight years didn't do much for my personality, or rather, lack of said personality. But Shisui was right…

What a waste of potential.

"Anyway, I promised you food." Shisui's grin was back, and I didn't show much expression to his grin.

"You never gave us your name," Itachi said, his kind voice cutting into the silence.

"Izana Tsukasa." I saw them tense at the mention of my name, but for young kids, they composed themselves so fast that I barely caught a flicker of what looked to be…

Recognition. Ah. That's right. The Uchiha clan hasn't been massacred yet, so there was nothing to shadow over the tragedy of the Izana clan.

Not to mention, how could the Uchiha not know about it. Their compound was next to ours, and they run the police force who would obviously of been at the scene. I couldn't exactly remember who showed up, Anbu or Uchiha, for I had just gotten my eye gorged out. I had neither the heart nor the resistance to pain at such a young age.

Fear was the only thing that allowed me to live that night.

And now the lack of fear kept me breathing.

Every big clan eventually lives with a stain on their name, and I suppose we have had our share. And I could see in that fleeting expression that passed over the two Uchiha prodigies, that my stain, however brief, now covered me in darkness.

Despite this, Shisui's arm suddenly went around my shoulders, making my body tense.

"Well, Tsukasa, time to make good on our deal," Shisui said, and Itachi smiled.

"A loss, is a loss," Itachi said, and his voice was free of judgment.

And because of this, I began to see these two, highly intelligent boys, in a slightly different light. Itachi's eyes were much kinder than the boy I remembered from my days in Academy, and much kinder than that Akatsuki member I had seen in the village, one lifetime ago.

"Get off me," I ordered, my eyes narrowed on Shisui's arm.

"Come on, Tsukasa, lighten up," came Shisui's retort, obviously not bothered by my tone.

 _Be bothered, damn it!_

My brows furrowed together as he all but dragged me away from the training ground. Whether or not Itachi was following, I wasn't sure, as I wasn't able to sense his presence nor hear his steps, despite the fact that the fallen leaves of fall had covered the ground in noisy leaves.

I didn't hear him walk next to me until I physically saw him. I raised a brow as he handed me the kunai that I had thrown 9 meters up a tree. It had still been up there when Shisui had dragged me away a mere 15 seconds ago, but now, there it was in Itachi's hand.

From just this small action, a mere 7 year old managed to impress me to the point where I could actually tolerate Shisui's arm around my shoulders.

Itachi was strong…probably stronger than me, despite my head start in life and despite my intelligence. This 7 year old could probably win. My eyes met his in that moment, and for that instant, I knew that it was true.

So this was what a prodigy looked like. A true fighting genius.

My lips formed into the first expression I had shown to either of these boys. A smirk. It was weak and almost immediately disappeared.

Yes.

Maybe being a ninja wouldn't be so bad if I could fight alongside these impressive boys.

Fuck the Izana clan.

葉 ︎葉

"You want to go to academy?" Asa asked, and her voice was filled with disgust as she stared me down. I could also taste my own disgust at the thought. I had no particular loyalty to my clan, so her growing disappointment didn't mean much to me. "Why?"

I didn't see why not. It wasn't like Branch one really needed another hand. After my father slaughtered half our clan's forces, business had only gone up and their wealth actually rose.

"I want to be a Shinobi," I said, my voice conveying no emotion as she sat across from me, in a lazy and opened legged Agura position, with her legs folded in a crisscross. I stuck to the seiza position, with my butt against my heels, as I had no interest in such an unfeminine position as hers.

"Gross," the word rolled off her tongue like poison, and I could fully tell that she meant it. "No."

"Yes."

"I am your official guardian. I say no. End of story," her voice was harsh, cutting to the chase and looking at me as if I grew two heads. "In fact, get the hell out."

"No." I said simply. I knew that she was the authority of the Izana clan after our mother's death, but I didn't actually care.

She looked exasperated, as she lifted her dish of sake and rose it to her lips, as if she had lost complete interest in me. "Why? Make your case."

"Because I want to."

"The Izana clan doesn't play on wants," she said simply, her eyes darting to the side and meeting my blank gaze. "We don't play on dreams. How can you being a Shinobi benefit us? While I admit, it's an amusing anecdote, that's as far as it is. I don't fully see any benefit to you becoming a ninja. For Gods sake, Kasa."

"Tsukasa." I corrected, and she waved me off.

"Whatever, I reject. Fuck off." She said simply, and her tone made it clear that she lost complete interest.

"What if I make it into Anbu?" I asked, my voice dropping and her eye twitched as she slowly met my gaze again.

"They don't let Izana into Anbu black ops."

"I have been gone, away from the compound, for years. I am barely considered an Izana anymore," I replied, and she leaned forward, raising her right leg and resting her arm on her knee. "I can renounce the clan. It happens often enough in many small clans around Konoha. I have no attachments and I can enter the academy under no official obligations to you."

"You thought about this quite a bit."

"For an entire five minutes," I answered honestly and she suddenly laughed.

"This village has never fully liked us, but we bring in a lot of commerce from foreign lands. We make up much of Konoha's income," Asa stated, but her voice was cold. "But lately, it's felt like we've been under surveillance. It's quite annoying, but you think you can get into Anbu."

"If I am strong enough. I am sure I can."

"What's in it for you?"

"Amusement. Shits and giggles to be honest."

"I admit, you aren't the weakest in our clan, but I don't think you have what it takes to get away from our oppression. Lately, the security of the Izana compound has felt more tightly guarded. It seems they think we are into illegal business." She scoffed, as if it were stupid, even though we were always in the business that went against Konoha's laws. "If you make it to the higher ups, I want information."

"Whatever you want."

"But if you can't get strong in that amount of time, I'll kill you myself for shaming me."

I felt my lips perk into a slightly sadistic smirk. "Whatever you want." I've died once. Maybe next time death will reincarnate me into Asa's body as some kind of sick joke again. The idea almost made me want to smile.

"You'll be starting the academy late, Kasa," came her voice, and I didn't bother correcting my name this time on the grounds of fuck her. "You think you can graduate in the next upcoming test?"

I've done it before. What more can they teach me that I didn't already know?


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Officially separating from my clan was far more, I don't know, bureaucratic than I thought. It took three weeks, five death threats (curtsey of Kira), and a complete removal of my privileges of even entering the Izana complex, as outsiders had never been welcome before. There had been talk of officially taking away my last name as Izana, which I didn't even fight for, but Asa eventually refuted the statements and allowed me to continue calling myself Izana. I wasn't sure, nor did I care, about the pride of my name, but all the branches agreed that the name would be stripped away eventually so they didn't bother.

Using the claims of 'unstable environment' was easy as I had one lack of eye to allow me to easily sway my statement.

Overall, it was a very boring, troublesome three weeks, but afterwards when I was alone in my new apartment and not an orphanage…well I felt almost _free_. It wasn't a horrible feeling, to be without a family, especially since I never considered them family anyway.

I was disappointed that I lost much of my source to information about controlling my unique Chakra, but I figured that I'd get the hang of it eventually. I knew nearly everything about Chakra control, so it shouldn't be long that the answers came to me.

I didn't feel much of anything when I walked up to the academy's large, double doors. My arms hung lazily at my sides as I lightly kicked them open and walked down the polished halls. They didn't look much different from the last time I had been here, many years in my past and the same signature of Chakra dusted over the halls in a small display of protective energy. It felt slightly stronger than the times when I had been a student, as all seals faded with time.

My feet remembered the way for me and I lazily opened the door to the classroom, feeling the eyes of many students turn to look upon me as I disrupted the class, an hour into lecture. I could tell my interruption pissed off the sensei that I didn't recognize. I didn't know when Iruka had taken over, but I figured it had to be quite an amount of years later so the man in front of me either became a Jounin or dies. Maybe both.

He was obviously not happy with how late I was, which meant that we were both unhappy at my presence here. I didn't try to make it unknown that I didn't care at his scowl as he stood, hand in mid air with a piece of chalk hovering over the board.

I immediately attempted to sit in a random seat, an obvious effort to get out of the introductions.

"Oh no you don't," the man said, grabbing me by the back of my shirt and yanking me next to him. If I had more of a sense of humor, I might have found the action funny, but since I didn't, it was just annoying. He had a kind face, I suppose, and was tan with his black hair tied into a ponytail that was short and scruffy. His Hitai-ate was around his neck, which I always found an annoying place for a headband. "Class, this is Izana Tsukasa. She's going to be starting class along with everyone else and she's obviously _late_." His narrowed eyes were directed at me, and I heard the echo of snickering in the classroom.

I blinked, staring blankly at the class before finally resting my eyes on the two Uchiha boys that I had met four weeks prior. Their eyes were on me and I mused the thought of waving before deciding against it and glancing back towards the teacher who still held my shirt in his hand.

I could have probably gotten out of his grip, but such an action would probably get me in more trouble that I would rather skip. I tucked a strand of orange hair behind my ear as I waited for him to release me.

"Tsukasa-kun, introduce yourself," he ordered and I resisted the urge to sigh at my failure at skipping introductions.

"I'm Tsukasa," I said simply, and attempted to walk, but his surprisingly strong grip pulled me back.

"Very funny. An actual introduction," he ordered and I erased the expression that almost gave away my annoyance.

"I'm Izana Tsukasa," I paused, and he obviously wasn't pleased, but when he saw that I wasn't getting any chattier, his face immediately changed to exasperation.

"Fine. Any questions," he asked the class, just as I attempted to get away. I was starting to think that this was my punishment.

"What happened to your eye?"

"Why do you have only one eye?"

"Do you know you only have one eye?"

The simultaneous barrage of questions all sounded the same, and I for one found that each one only got more stupid. In response to them, I shrugged and the teacher seemed to take pity on me and allowed me to sit down.

If there had been a free seat next to either Shisui or Itachi, I would have taken it, but two girls who continuously tried to get their attention filled the seats. It didn't particularly matter who I sat by, so I took a random empty seat in the middle, next to some guy with a trench coat that had a color that covered most of the bottom half of his face.

"Alright. Now that the interruptions are through," the teacher's gaze turned pointed on me, although I was fairly certain that he was the one who made the interruption longer than necessary.

He obviously wasn't happy with the fact that I didn't take notes as he went over the kanji lectures and their significance in seals, but since it was my first day he didn't say anything while I observed the classroom.

Genin tests would take place in roughly three months, so I had three months to observe the class's scores and figure out how well I was going to do on the many tests that were to come.

It had always been an unspoken rule that the two top students would be paired with the bottom student, so it was a matter of observing who was the bottom student. If the Uchiha prodigies were anything like Sasuke, I assumed they were at the top of the class.

I had no interest in getting teamed up with the many weaklings that surrounded me, and with one wrong move, I would be forced to.

"Tsukasa-chan?" whispered the voice of a girl next to me, her black hair and pupil-less eyes practically screamed Hyūga to me. She had a soft voice and I would have missed the fact that she spoke at all if she hadn't been so close. I didn't question that oddly familiar honorific, even if it was strange how familiar people had been referring to me lately. I suppose that Konoha hadn't been strictly known for excessive use on honorifics, and that was the choice of most the ninja who did so, since it was a pain in the ass. "Do you need a notebook?" She obviously found my lack of note-taking to be troubling, even though it wasn't really her business.

I suppose academy students always were nosy, and I remembered specifically that as Misaki, I had been very talkative and curious about everyone else's business. I obviously didn't seem very unapproachable, especially since they were all so young. Most wouldn't be taking the Genin exam until they were older, while I planned on getting the hell out of here as quickly as possible, but at the same time as the two Uchiha boys. Happy thoughts like that were what kept me going.

"Nah," was all I said as I watched Umino-sensei, who I found out was Iruka's father, write different kanji on the board. They were simple ones like '子' or '封', nothing I didn't already know. Many kids in the back weren't taking notes, such as Itachi and Shisui, but since they weren't new students, no one cared.

The only thing that excessive knowledge of kanji even applied in the world of ninja was with Fūinjutsu, and such required an almost innate talent that I was fairly certain only 8 percent of ninja could even succeed at. God knows I had tried, so long ago. Sealing arts required an imagination that boardered genius. Being reborn didn't give me much help in Fūinjutsu.

I can't say it didn't give me anything, but without proper control of my Chakra, sealing Jutsu would be useless, even if I can make the signs.

There were only two great Fūinjutsu users that got recognized, and that was the 4th Hokage and the Toad Sage. And neither seemed to regularly take up students. I wasn't sure I would even want to be their students, since people trained by them had a tendency to die. Common rumors spread that they were cursed.

When the teacher called for a break, his loud voice and the voices of the students broke me out of my thoughts as kids began to flood outside for their 30-minute break. I didn't have much time to so much as move until I found myself surrounded by students.

"Tsukasa, do you wanna hang out with us?" Asked on of them, and my eye met his before I recognized his voice as the one who asked 'do you know you are missing an eye'. The comment was so stupid that I almost broke my own composure to call him out on it.

"No." I replied, waiting for them to leave so I could stand or even get a moment's worth of peace.

"Come on, it will be fun!" Asked another.

After five minutes of saying 'no', they seemed to finally take the hint that I didn't want to play with them, and they walked out, dejected.

I didn't get a minute to myself before the seat to the left and right of me was occupied by both Uchiha.

"I thought you said you weren't going to academy," Shisui asked, his arm wrapping around my shoulder in a friendly gesture that I found too troublesome to dodge.

"Apparently not," I replied, and he grinned.

"That's great. We'll be Genin together then?" He asked and I shrugged.

"Will you be taking the Genin test early?" Itachi asked, and I blinked.

"Will you?" I asked in return and Shisui's grin widened.

"We're more than ready," came Shisui's answer.

"I see." I replied, and I felt Shisui get closer.

"With your strength, you'll probably do pretty well, but who knows," he replied, and I didn't very much care for his statement as I had been the top student before dying. It certainly hurt my pride that I was going to have to purposefully fail all the makeup tests now and just barely pass the ninja exam.

"Will you be ready in time?" Itachi's smile was kind, unlike Shisui's, who continuously sought for my offense. It was almost like he was trying to pick a fight.

"Probably," I answered, lazily placing my shoes against the desk as I attempted to shrug off Shisui's arm again. "I doubt I'll do as well as you two, but even if I'm dead last, if I do the practical correctly, becoming Genin is rather easy." It was keeping the title of Genin that could prove to be tricky, depending on the Jounin I got stuck with. God knows I could do without Hatake Kakashi, as I was still fairly certain that I _hated_ that guy.

Last time, I was lucky as all my old sensei wanted in a team was stamina and some stupid lesson on never giving up. I suppose the lessons in teamwork came later, but my teammates weren't difficult up until they went and died. Technically, it was my fault, and now that I was in the body of their killer…well, it was even more my fault.

"Wanna make a bet? I bet that I'll do better on the practical than you," came Shisui's claim, making a bet happen before I even agreed. Judging by his tone, it seemed like _yes_ , I was officially apart of some childish rivalry.

"I want money this time, not food," I said slowly.

"Stingy," Shisui said with a pout. "But food means we spend time together, money means you just walk away."

"That's the point," I said simply, and I heard Itachi let out a chuckle from next to me.

"That's not very nice, Tsukasa. You're much ruder than you look," Shisui whined.

"I'm not forcing you to stay," I replied, _at least not yet_.

"You brushed off everyone else, but you haven't actually told us to go away," Shisui said, facing me as he energetically sat on the desk. His eyes connected with Itachi, and both looked amused. "I think she actually likes our company, what do you think, Itachi?"

"I think sensei is going to yell at you," Itachi replied simply, and Shisui made a motion to retort, but was interrupted by an annoyed scolding.

"Shisui, for the last time, no sitting on the god damn desks," came Umino-sensei's exclaim, pounding off the walls.

"Come on sensei, it's not like they'll break," Shisui whined, but got off nonetheless.

"If I did tell you to go away, would you even listen?" I asked, and Shisui settled for leaning against the desk instead.

"Nah. Where else am I going to find another person to annoy?"

"You annoy me pretty well," Itachi commented, but his voice held no conviction.

Their lively banter filled my ears, but it didn't really bother me. I didn't really care who they were as people, and the only thing I could really think about was a team that would get me stronger. Whether or not they could fit my goal, I suppose only time would tell.

It would also be greatly appreciated if they wouldn't die either.

The last thing I needed was more dead teammates.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So, it's been a while and this chapter is short. I'm starting to really enjoy Tsukasa's character, even though most of my characters have very similar flaws and personalities in my opinion. They all have my own qualities sometimes, with just exaggerated effects for plot purposes.

Her zodiac is Scorpio (I _do try_ and give every one of my OCs a different zodiac; Anomie was Aquarius and I have more on Wattpad~) so it usually works out.

I don't quite yet know how I'm going to go about the Tsukasa x Itachi moments, as romance isn't my strong point and I've never written about an OC so emotionally detached before, so I'll try my best.

Also, Itachi is kind of boring. Like his personality is boring, but I love him all the same. For the most part, the story is coming along and Tsukasa has a rather demented personality, but she's not emotionless and her goals are still stuck in the past- as Misaki's death was brutal and she is driven with that memory.

Thank you for reading~! :D


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Stop being paranoid, Tsu-chan," Shisui commented, causing me to glance towards him and try to contain the murderous desire to smash his face into the ground. "O-Okay, you don't have to do the exercise...you can just sit there all alone."

I was still fairly certain I hated Uchiha Shisui as the loudmouth boy was always an annoying pest, but I said nothing about the annoyances on the simple grounds that I was beginning to believe the kid wouldn't listen to me regardless.

"Tsukasa-kun, you have to do the exercises as well," Umino's voice was annoying as well, and for a teacher, I had my doubts that he'd live much longer considering I couldn't remember even the murmur of his name from my time as Misaki. "Run laps." He ordered.

I hope he runs laps in hell.

I am Izana Tsukasa. I don't _run_.

Also, I'm incredibly lazy and just ate an entire barbecue plate this morning after my exercises.

"Nah. Sick," was my response as I continued to read from my textbook, finding the history of Konoha to be quite boring, but at least it gave me a vague idea of the timeline on what has happened and what has yet to happen.

Umino sent me a furious glance as the other students, who I found were actually years older than me, continued sending me scowls as they ran their punishment laps around the school. It was a rather annoying new development of having everyone run all because one student failed their practicals.

I was certain there was a life lesson in the whole 'if one fails, we all fail' kind of mindset, but I didn't care enough to question it.

"Do you want to be kicked out?" Umino asked as I turned a page.

Slowly I brought my eyes up towards his with a calm blink as I raised an innocent brow past my orange bangs. "Nah. I'm good. By all means, don't let me keep you from running too sensei."

Umino went silent as I went back to my book.

I found out later not to sass a teacher after he assigned me loads of homework that looked to be the entirety of all the schoolwork that an academy student usually completed by this time in their schooling days.

It was all mind numbingly redundant and easy, but there was so much that I _knew_ I would have to pull an all nighter to write it all.

"You have a week." Umino had said with a smirk so smug that I began to wonder if the reason he doesn't make it as a teacher in the future was because I kill him right now.

 _This was probably one of my worst punishments_ , I realized as soon as I got home.

"That's a lot of homework," Shisui commented and I glanced up from my bed to see Shisui leaning near my window.

"How do you know where I live?" I asked as I glanced up at him, opening my window as if he owned the place.

"I followed you home a couple nights ago," Shisui said simply, as if he didn't just admit to stalking me.

"That's rather creepy," I admitted, going back to my work without a care in the world.

"I had to know the whereabouts of my rival if I ever wanted to challenge you. So here I am. Challenging you," he stated with a grin as he glanced around, taking small steps around the room.

"I reject. Get out," I said simply, continuing to write down the entire history of the previous Hokages along with their achievements and reforms throughout the village. History was never something I enjoyed as Misaki, so having to go through it again was making me sick to my stomach with boredom.

I must have been bored, considering I actually _hesitated_ before rejecting Shisui's invitation.

"Okay, obviously you misunderstand. You don't get a choice," Shisui stated simply.

"Obviously _you_ don't know the definition of challenge. Get out." I answered in reply.

"Do you realize you only have a bed in the apartment," Shisui stated, and I sighed.

"No. I didn't notice," I slowly realized that my sarcasm didn't match my flat tone.

"You are super boring Tsukasa. Admit it, you need me," Shisui said with a grin, smacking my books off my bed.

I watched it fall with a blank expression, not caring enough to pick it all up. A part of me wondered if it would have been less irritating to have become an assassin like the rest of my deranged family.

Maybe I could hire one of them to kill Shisui for me and save myself the bother of his presence.

"You are _super_ annoying, Uchiha Shisui," I retorted and he grinned.

"Not nice, Tsu-chan~" he said as he walked towards the window, placing one foot outside. "Let's go fight."

"I'm on the eight floor and there isn't a latter. How did you get up here anyway?" I asked with furrowed brows.

"I'll tell you if you fight me~" his attempt at bribery was pathetic.

I stood up, dropping my pen on my books as I walked closer towards his form. At my expression, he paled and I noticed his adams apple bob as he swallowed.

"Tsu-chan...what are you doing?" He asked, and I shrugged.

"I'm gonna push you out and find the answer for myself." I answered in return, and he quickly raised his hands in defense.

"Wait, wait, wait. I was just joking. If I get shoved the wrong way I could die!" He hissed and I shrugged, pushing him out the window.

Just as he began to fall, his fingers coiled around my wrist so tightly that I immediately lost my childish footing. I felt my hip scrape against the window frame on my way out.

"I-Idiot!" I muttered out as I fell with him. He was grinning all the way, and just before we were about to hit the ground, he did a quick Jutsu and gripped my hand. The pressure of a body flicker spread throughout my frame and by the time I blinked, we were standing just outside of the hotel district where my apartment had resided.

"I've been practicing since you kicked my ass," Shisui admitted with a sheepish grin. "I can go a little farther out and sometimes take people with me."

I paused, noticing his slightly labored breath. "What do you mean sometimes?"

"Ah...you picked up on that huh..." he commented, letting out a sheepish laugh.

"W-Was I a test?" I asked and he laughed again but didn't answer.

"Come on, Tsu. I wanted to challenge you. It was you who had to make it difficult," his tone wasn't exactly mocking, but it was amused which contrasted my ever present frown.

I slowly reached behind me, causing a flicker of nervousness to blow through his eyes.

"Tsu-chan...what are you doing?" He asked, slowly backing away.

"I'm gonna test something. Stay still," I replied, taking out a kunai from my weapons pouch and he let out a yelp.

"Come on, Tsu-chan, it was just a joke."

"Stay _still_."

葉•葉

"Itachi~" Shisui's voice made Itachi glance up from his training session with his father as he stared at the Uchiha boy who shoved his way past the trees of the training grounds, sporting a forming bruise on his eye. Itachi noticed a book clutched in his hands, finding it odd as Itachi never caught Shisui reading a book.

"What's wrong?" Itachi asked, noticing that his father had seen the bruise on Shisui's eye. It was rather rare to see Shisui with an injury, especially one that looked to be the form of a fist and Itachi knew _he_ wasn't the cause since he was never much of a puncher.

"Tsukasa just _kicked_ my _ass_ ," Shisui complained with a frown, causing Itachi to have to fight back a smirk that wanted to form on his lips.

"You let someone beat you," even Itachi's father, Fugaku, sounded amused at the thought as he glanced down at his son with a raised brow.

"I didn't _let_ her do anything. I was tired after the body flicker and she's got some ridiculous strength," Shisui's pout was amusing to say the least.

"You need more training. This is Izana Tsukasa, is it not," Fugaku's eyes were slightly cold, and he glanced up as though looking back on a memory.

"You know of her?" Shisui said with a grin, scratching the back of his neck. "She's rather dull and she never smiles and she only has one eye but she's strong. Right 'tachi?"

Itachi shrugged, "She's strong, but this time you were just careless I suspect. On normal grounds, I'd say you two are nearly equal."

"Not everyone can be a perfect prodigy," Shisui grinned. "So I was thinking, I should join your training sessions and maybe I'll be able to beat her without breaking a sweat."

Fugaku's gaze of amusement returned, "We were actually just finished."

Shisui's gaze soured, "Man. That sucks. I was hoping to perfect my fire technique."

Itachi shrugged, "I could teach you, but I doubt it would help much. Genjutsu utilizes Chakra control far more, and your Body Flicker's main problem is control."

"You hit me where it hurts, Itachi, but just wait. I'm gonna be the fastest in the world soon enough! Enough to match the Fourth Hokage himself."

Fugaku chuckled, "Bold words with nothing to back them up, kid."

Shisui smirked, "Well, my charm is already matched with the Fourth, so the rest of me is bound to catch up soon enough." Fugaku merely rolled his eyes and body flickered away, causing Shisui to frown. "Show off."

葉•葉

"Shisui. Give me back my book," I caught a glimpse of a man body flickering away from where Shisui _and_ Itachi stood, but I ignored it as I set my glare on Shisui's smirking figure.

Itachi slowly glanced down at the book in Shisui's had with a raised brow. "You stole from her too?"

"I had to send a message," Shisui replied, turning to me, only to be surprised when I was already in front of him with a forming scowl.

"Message sent. I'm happy these messages are going back and forth, now, unless you want to be punched in the eye again, I'd hand the book over." I stated, annoyed that my homework session was interrupted and even more annoyed that my textbook was stolen by my stalker.

"Oh, then we'll be matching eyes," Shisui said simply, and I raised a brow while Itachi sighed to himself.

"It was a quiet day, you know," Itachi's mutter was short lived as my lips further engraved into an annoyed scowl.

"My day was quiet too," I agreed, glancing between them. "Until a spikey haired idiot strolled into my bedroom and pushed me out of said window."

"If you recall, you were the one doing the pushing. And all I wanted was a rematch," Shisui grinned. "If you win, I'll give you back your book. I've been practicing lately. I can take you on."

I took a step back, glancing between the two boys. "You are incredibly annoying. Are all Uchiha this annoying?"

Itachi's raised brow made me rethink my statement.

"Wait..." Shisui paused at the same time as Itachi and I glanced between the two. "Do you feel that?"

"Incredibly irritated?" I questioned, crossing my arms over my chest. "Yes. I do feel that."

Shisui didn't smile like he usually would and instead tossed himself out of the way while Itachi grabbed my wrist and shoved me back as kunai lodged into the ground where we stood.

Itachi glanced towards my face that went stony calm before we both glanced towards the forest trees where the kunai had been tossed.

"I can't believe they dodged it," the sound of a man's voice mused from in the trees before two ninja hopped down from the branches.

"Whatever, it was luck. Let's just get this over with," the second man stated. They both wore black crow masks and their headbands were an obvious sign of Iwa.

"There's a peace treaty between our nations," Itachi was the first to have the nerve to speak through the tension of the killing intent that radiated off the two ninja who wore full black.

The first ninja chuckled, hard enough for his shoulders to shake. "Fuck the treaty."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Well, it's been a while. I apologize. I lost inspiration for a little while and things got hectic, but I got my inspiration back so here it is.

The next chapter will be more important than this one though~ :D

Thank you for your patience and thank you for reading.

I am hoping to make this story more humorous than my Kakashi story _Chasing Smoke_ but they are going to be taking place in the same universe so they are etched into each other. Much like my other two Naruto stories are etched into each other as well. Whether or not Anomie will make a huge impact in Tsukasa's life is debatable, but I might put her in the passing since they will never actually physically meet and their paths won't exactly cross in a social way.

Same universe fan fictions are my thing~ :D


	7. Chapter 6

**Gimble**

Chapter 6

"I could be studying," I stated off the bat, ducking under a shrub as another set of shuriken were tossed my way. Shisui was near me, so close that I could practically feel his chest pressed up against my back.

I didn't get the chance to see where Itachi had disappeared off to, but I suppose it was just as well since this shrub could barely hide two let alone three.

"Where's your sense of adventure, Tsu-chan," Shisui whispered with a raising grin that I snarled at.

"If we survive this, you won't make it to your next adventure," I muttered, finally catching sight of Itachi who rested perched on a high tree branch with his Sharingan activated.

The two Iwa ninja looked to be befuddled and irritated as they scoured the forest clearing. "Where the fuck did they go?"

The other ninja let out a growl that echoed in their crow masks. "Come out, kids. If you surrender, we won't hurt you."

Shisui scoffed, "Does he think we're idiots?"

"I think you're an idiot," I muttered as I noticed with slight apprehension that I left my weapons bag back in my apartment next to the fallen stack of books.

"Don't be cruel. Those could be your last words to me," Shisui retorted.

"Good. I meant them," I replied, taking a slight motion forward to look through the opening of trees.

"If Itachi was here, we could make a plan to take them on," Shisui stated, his voice suddenly lowering into a serious baritone. I was slightly surprised that he knew how to be serious at all, considering he was a giant idiot who shoved me out a window only twenty minutes ago.

"You are so annoying, I wish everyone was dead," I mumbled under my breath, just loud enough for him to hear.

"Okay, so I'm sensing some left over tension between us," Shisui said and I narrowed my eyes. "Let's put it behind us and work together for now."

Slowly, I nodded and tightened the bandages over my eye so they wouldn't fall off in an inopportune moment. "You distract, I'll attack."

"Wait, that's your plan?"

"You have flashy Ninjutsu, on that level, we play to your strengths. I have brute power—and quite frankly, your punches suck," I explained in a whisper.

"I suppose. Itachi will probably try out a Genjutsu the moment he has the chance, if he hasn't already," Shisui commented and I frowned.

"How can you possibly know that?"

"Itachi is what you call a-"

"I just remembered. I don't care."

Shisui pulled out a kunai, brushing his arm against my spine as he did. I did my best to control the Chakra that was coursing through my veins, which was a harder feat when I tried to do it actively.

"I swear to god, I'm gonna fuck these kids," the crow ninja's curse did not fall on deaf ears and his partner immediately shushed him.

"Okay, I know we're going for that whole 'intimidating' vibe, but I think you gotta bring it down a notch," the other crow ninja replied. Shisui and I visibly ignored the banter as we continued our own.

"We need to have a serious talk about manners later," he commented, and I found myself very much bemused.

"Carve it on your tombstone," I retorted. "When I attack, you need to leave and get help." I turned to him just in time to see a moment of hesitation cloud his expression.

"I'm not leaving you two."

"I'm not thrilled at being left to die either."

"You're not making me feel better."

"Why should you feel better?" I asked in a monotone. "I'm the one with the death sentence. You have your teleporting. Get out of here the moment I attack."

Shisui stared at me, long and hard, his brows furrowed but I didn't give him a chance to argue as I shoved him out of the bush. He stood up slow and awkward, his legs straightening as he let out an awkward whistle while the two ninja stared him down.

"Okay, I know what you're thinking," Shisui raised his hands up in the air, his smile absent of all nervousness. Instead it just appeared to be awkward.

"Let's kill him," the crow ninja stated, his eyes narrowed and the other ninja sprung forward. I briefly wondered if I would be the reason for his death before the crow's katana went straight through the kid's body as if it were made of smoke. "The fuck is that?"

Shisui only continued to grin before the illusion of him flickered away completely in a barrage of black crows. I was vaguely impressed by Itachi's swift action of Genjutsu and Shisui's act of disappearing.

Those two are strong. "Where the fuck he go?" one of the crow ninja hissed, but before he could get far, my fist broke into his spine causing him to shove forward until his hands hit the ground. My neck cracked as I straightened my body to the ground, spinning my leg so I could make contact with the second ninja. However, he wasn't nearly as unprepared and surprised as the first and his hands immediately gripped my calf.

"You are way out of your league, little girl," the man said and I felt my eye narrow at his comment. I never got a further idiotic retort from him as his hands let go of my calf. He looked around, his eyes scanning the area and looking right through me. "Where the fuck did that chick go?"

I'm right here.

"Yano...I think I'm about to crap out my own spine," the other ninja said, straightening up and glancing right through me as if I were there.

Genjutsu? Itachi...how did you...?

I decided not to waste the chance he had given me and I pushed out Chakra into my arms much differently than I had before. This time it was sharp, pointed and formed a blade of Chakra at my finger tips. It was a Jutsu I hadn't performed as Izana. It was a medical Jutsu that belonged strictly to Misaki. How fitting that it warps my mind into bloodlust when I used it.

"It won't last much longer," Itachi's voice hissed all around me. "Run."

I am Izana Tsukasa. I don't run.

I punctured my hand into the kidney of the second ninja, very close to where I had kicked him before. He shot down to his knees, his mask falling from his face as his eyes found me. No Genjutsu could hide me now and his hand coiled around my neck.

"I'm gonna fuck this kid," he hissed and the first ninja sighed.

"This kind of talk is why no one likes going on missions with you, Machi," the ninja, Yano, said as he grabbed me by my hair, pulling it back and me along with it. "You are a scary looking kid. There's death in your eyes...sorry..." he chuckled. "Eye."

Being held up in the air by my hair was not how I was hoping to spend my afternoon. I had been planning on far more appealing a Friday, like maybe buying more barbeque or burning Umino-sensei in his chair for the vast amount of homework he bestowed on me.

Before he could undoubtedly kill me, Itachi's leg kicked into his back, knocking me down underneath him. I struggled to get away, but his hands wrapped around my neck, his fingers digging into the soft skin of my throat and suctioning off my air. I cursed the weakness of my arms as I slammed my palms against his wrists, trying to get him to release my throat.

How odd that your strength became diminished without air.

His mask was lose and it fell off his face and landed right next to me. His face was cold but it wasn't even half as scary as the woman's whose skin I wore right now was the day she tore my tongue from my throat.

As if his features could scare me. I would not die again.

No...never again.

I ripped my fingers into his eye, gouging it with my nails and the last bit of my Chakra.

"You fucking bitch," his hands went slack from my throat, the blood coating my face as the back of his hand struck my cheek. I could hear only vaguely Itachi fighting off the other ninja. He was calling my name, but all I could focus on was the air running into my lungs and fueling the coughing from my lips.

I could taste blood against my tongue and hear the ninja's pained cries before it all went silent. I caught the glimpse of the Konoha police force, funneling in through the trees and surrounding us.

"Tsu-chan, you okay," I felt Shisui help me up, my face covered in blood. Everything was blurry and my one good eye was shielded by the red goo.

"It's not mine," I whispered, running the back of my hand over my eye, finally catching sight of a black haired Uchiha man that I vaguely recognized as Sasuke's father...Itachi's father. The two ninja we had faught off were in custody, and the one without his eye stared me down, clutching his hand over the bloody face.

"You are terrifying, Tsukasa," Shisui muttered with a small smile. "Did you do that to that guy?"

"He made a joke about my eye," I replied simply and Shisui slightly laughed.

"I make jokes about your eye, does that mean I'm special?" he grinned, but flinched when I raised my hand. "Okay! No more jokes! You have no sense of humor, Tsu-chan," he said and I found myself slightly surprised by the innocence of his statement.

"I suppose I don't," I said, watching Itachi as he walked up to us. Shisui was sheepish as he rubbed the back of his head.

"We made a pretty good team if I do say so myself," Shisui stated and I found myself in agreement.

"Why didn't you run?" Itachi asked and I ran my fingers over the red markings on my neck.

"I don't run if I can fight."

"Don't you want to live?" he asked instead.

"Cowards don't live long," I replied, watching as Itachi's dad walked our way, his eyes stared me down so intently that my words ran mute.

"You're Izana Tsukasa then?" he asked and I only nodded. "Hmm. Good work you three. Who know what would have happened if they got away."

"What did they want anyway?" Shisui asked.

"Who knows, but I have an idea," the man tapped his finger against his head, referring to his eyes. It made me remember something as Misaki. How many enemy ninja would it take to steal and study a fabled Konoha Kekkei Genkai?

Obviously more than two.

葉 ︎葉

"Kidnapping is not a good enough excuse for not completing your homework, Tsukasa," Umino-sensei stated and I felt a rush of annoyance for his remark.

Damn you, Uchiha Shisui.

"Get it to me by noon today, or I will have to fail you," he stated, going back to the papers on his desk.

If I slam his head at a 35 degree angle with enough force I could snap his neck. "Yes sensei."

I hate you so much.

By the time I made it back to my apartment, I saw Shisui sitting on my bed with his face buried in my notes. Itachi on the other hand was at my desk, his pencil scrapping out my report on the defense measures Konoha took during the war.

I didn't say anything and just took my book from the stack, lifting up my unfinished paper on Chakra control and sat down on the ground. "You're not even gonna ask?" Shisui said, and I rolled my eye.

"I have to get this completed by noon or I'm kicked out of the academy. Get to the books, idiot," I retorted.

"You're the idiot," he muttered, but raised his hands when I snapped my head to stare at him. "I'm kidding!"

My eye narrowed, "By noon."

I ignored his mumbling, but my heart felt slightly warm by Shisui's stupidity and Itachi's quiet kindness.

How useless this feeling was.

 **Author's Note**

 **gimble** – v. – To make holes, as though with a hand-drill

It's been forever. I'm supa sorry!


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Go ahead, Tsukasa," Umino ordered and I walked up to the front of the line, holding out my hands in front of me.

 _I was going to, asshole_ and I knew that the thought was nasty, but seriously, fuck this teacher. My Chakra felt like a thin wire, cutting through my veins as it flowed into release. I was happy my eye was covered, as I knew what shape it took when I used it, but if I could do a Chakra scalpel, I was damn certain I could do a clone, not to mention I had done it before.

I didn't announce my Jutsu, instead, I let it announce itself as my shape took form of Umino-sensei. However, I suppose my inner distaste for him came out through the Jutsu as I became Umino in a dress.

The class quaked with the intent to repress their laughter as Umino's face turned impassive with obvious annoyance. "Oh my, it appears I made a mistake. This is not the fabric I was going. Sorry, sensei," I said in a monotone. It probably made him even more offended at my lack of apologetic dribble.

"Tsukasa," Umino said, his face turning into a porcelain like mask of his previous displeasure. That's how I knew I was in trouble for annoying him. "I would like an entire report by tomorrow on the 'Art of Ninjutsu'. I hope this act of disobedience was worth it."

It wasn't, but I bowed my head and said, "It was, see you tomorrow," as if I weren't annoyed.

The class passed by slowly after that, and everyone finished their tests without any slip-ups resembling mine. I was half way through the 'Art of Ninjutsu' book by the time Itachi and Shisui took up the seats on either side of me.

"Why do you egg him on?" Shisui asked with a laugh.

"For someone who hates extra work this much, you sure do ask for it," Itachi agreed with a small smile.

I put down my book, raising my eyes to the ceiling, "at this point, I have no idea."

Shisui chuckled, "shame, I was gonna invite you over to train with us this afternoon."

I looked him dead in the eye and said, "I've never been more grateful for this report. Stop. You're making me too thankful." Shisui's lips curled into a pout.

"'Tachi, Tsu-chan's being mean," Shisui's voice whined.

"Do you need help with your report?" Itachi said without a second thought.

"Not you too, Itachi. Do I have no true friends anymore?" Shisui commented and I rolled my eyes, going back to my book.

"You never had any true friends," I replied.

葉 葉

"Are you ready for the graduation test?" Shisui asked, tossing a kunai into my newly painted fucking ceiling and likely pissing off the people above us for the eighteenth time, one for every kunai that was embedded in the wood.

"I was ready to get a quiet night without your rambling," I commented in return, glancing over my report, pencil in hand as I scribbled down random bullshit on the importance of training your hands to match your Ninjutsu.

"I for one, didn't want you to be lonely," Shisui replied and Itachi scoffed from across from him, in his hands was one of my many books that were piled next to the window. "Shut up."

"You two really have nothing better to do on a sunny afternoon?" I sighed, finishing my essay.

"Nah, we can train after your done," Shisui said, tossing a shuriken into my ceiling as he was obviously out of kunai.

"Are you a masochist, Shisui?" I asked, standing up and stretching my arms over my head.

"You're about say something mean, aren't you, Tsu-chan?"

"It's just weird to me that you are so prone to watching yourself get bested over and over again," I replied. "After all, I'm pretty sure there's still an imprint of your face in the ground."

"If I recall," Itachi chimed without looking up. "You were the one beaten last time."

I frowned, "yes. A slip up on my part. I let my emotions run wild."

Itachi and Shisui laughed as if I just told a joke and Shisui said, "you have those?"

"Everyone has an ego," I commented in return, drawing a small doodle of Umino-sensed in a dress at the top corner of my report before I tossed on the desk. "Mine just so happens to take me over in battle."

"Well, you're finished, lets go train," Shisui bolted up like a dog and I found myself almost agreeing.

"When did I say I would train with you today?" I asked, not because I didn't want to fight but more so because he had made the decision for me.

"You are grumbling about it but you always end up saying yes," Itachi said, standing up and adjusting his weapons case. "Let's just save time with you agreeing."

"You two really think you have me all figured out, don't you?" I asked, furrowing my brows before realizing that I really wanted to fight. It was odd, as Misaki, I would have preferred to take my days slow and do yoga with my mother in the afternoon.

This person I was becoming was so unlike how I knew I should be and how I knew I had been. I'm really not Misaki anymore, am I?

"We see how you look when you're fighting. One of these days I'm going to get a smile out of you," Shisui exclaimed with a proud grin.

"If you wanted me to smile, all you had to do was ask," I pulled back my lips and forced a large, Cheshire shaped grin and it immediately made Shisui stop smiling.

"On second thought, Tsu-chan, don't smile," Shisui said while Itachi nodded in agreement.

When was the last time I smiled about anything? I suppose I smiled before my eye was gorged out like the insides of a kiwi. I hated to admit it, but I had grown attached to Tsukasa's-no-my mother. My rebirth had been the most humiliating experience of my life (both lives). Nothing screamed more terrifying than not being able to open my eyes and forced, with complete consciousness of my surroundings, to listen to people and interact without being able to interact in return. I supposed the whole thing turned me impassive to everything.

I hadn't even know who 'Tsukasa' was until my eye had been gorged out, leaving behind a very familiar scar of fingernails around my eye. As if I could ever forget the face of the woman who killed me and my friends.

So no. In my perspective, there wasn't really anything to smile about. Even being around children didn't make the 'Misaki' in me happy. Everything about this world made me sick. Konoha was corrupt to the core and I wanted to see that taint with my own eyes.

What kind of village would have three kids battle against a monster like Tsukasa anyway? The mission that killed Hikaru and Shion had been the final factor that sealed away my heart.

It had also allowed me to see the potential of strength this body had. Shion had been the strongest fighter I had ever met and her insides were gutted with Tsukasa's bare hands. Not that I planned on gutting someone's insides. Something just told me that I could if I put some effort into it.

"You have a scary look on your face," Shisui said and I snapped from my morbid thoughts.

"Lets fight," I said and he grinned slowly.

"I knew you'd agree," Shisui replied.

"I've always wanted to know what your blood would look like when it's smeared across Itachi's face," I said.

"I'd much rather keep his blood away from me. Aim somewhere else," Itachi mused.

I scoffed, "Looks like no one cares about your well-being, Shisui."

"I care about my well-being!"

葉 葉

I had never seen a grown man want to kill me until Umino stared down at the drawing of himself in a dress that remained at the corner of my report. I suppose I could look apologetic, but I figured that would require a fuck that I did not give.

"Do you want to do 100 laps around the village again, Tsukasa?" Umino asked. I didn't let him know that I never did the laps the first time and instead spent three hours eating barbeque.

"Am I supposed to say no?" I asked after the awkward silence.

"Redo the report. I would rather not be subject to being in a dress."

"That drawing could be anyone," I commented in return, already knowing that my defense was flimsy. After all, I was actually very talented with a pencil

He finally decided to take the report and he kneaded his fingers into his temples, "Get out of my office, Tsukasa."

"If it makes you feel any better," I said, just before leaving. "At least everyone knows how good you look in a dress, Umino-sensei."

I didn't stick around for my punishment.

葉 葉

"Okay, Tsukasa, what did you do to make sensei so mad. He had us running laps all day," Shisui asked, referring to the stamina training that I had sat out for at the expense of my afternoon writing more reports on my misbehavior.

"Why do you assume it was me?" I asked, earning a raised brow from Itachi. "I just gave him a compliment."

"Do you even use compliments?" Itachi asked and I shrugged.

"Sometimes, when the occasion calls for it. For example, I think Shisui makes a really cool face right before I kick his ass," I said, twirling a strand of my orange hair around my pointer finger.

"My dad said I should never hit a girl," Shisui muttered to himself.

"You two are prepared for the Genin test tomorrow then?" I asked, and Shisui scratched his nose.

"My mom said it was easy," Shisui commented.

"It's what comes after that's hard," I replied.

"And what comes after. I'm ready for anything!" he exclaimed.

"I didn't mean hard for you. It's hard for whatever poor bastard is on your team," I gave Itachi a sideways glance.

"You learn to tone him out," Itachi commented.

"You guys are way too mean. I'm going home."

"Class isn't over yet."

"I'm gonna wait until class is over and then I'm going home."

葉 葉

I would have to do very poorly in the written exam to end up on their team. I stared down at the class rankings, running my fingers over everyone's individual names. As horrible as it would to be on Shisui's team, his strength made up for it.

All I ever wanted to do was fight these days, and while I could do that being an official Izana...I didn't want to follow in Tsukasa's footsteps. I didn't want to wake up one day and find that I had completely become her. I didn't want to be a killer and I didn't really care that much about money.

If I was going to get my second chance at life, I wanted to do something significant with it. Itachi and Shisui were strong. If I could use them to climb to the top of this power chain then I would.

So I had to be on their team.

I grabbed my pen, crossing out names that wouldn't work. I crossed out 15 names of students I knew wouldn't pass, I circled 12 names that I knew would pass. From there I numbered their rankings and placed them in teams according to where they score.

And I would be on Itachi and Shisui's team. If it was the last thing I do, I would gain that spot. Weaklings and war stricken bastards who were so sheltered by fearful parents that they know nothing about the necessity of strength. They took the Shinobi life like a game, waiting for pleasantries and tossing kunai without aim to kill your enemies.

She will not lose another team. She will not watch another team die. She will not die like that again.

Never again.

"Tsukasa!" Shisui exclaimed, rushing into my apartment and forcing me to hide my analysis of the class. It wasn't like I was afraid he'd find out how much I wanted to be on his team, but I'd prefer to avoid it if I could since his ego is already too inflated. "Guess what I heard?"

"Please tell me. I've been awake all night with worry, waiting for this moment," I said in a deadpan.

"You need to drop the attitude or I'm gonna tell someone else," Shisui pouted.

"How did you get in my apartment?" I asked, knowing I had locked the door.

"Okay I'm just gonna tell you," he waved off my question and I made a mental note to change the locks. "The first exam is going to be Ninjutsu. We have to demonstrate a single D ranked Jutsu."

I suppose that was a little more difficult than the graduation exam that I, as Misaki, had performed but I could only guess this was the cost of being in an era where war was kept at bay with a single document. Everyone knew one slight and the villages would be back to nipping at eachother's blood.

"Wonderful. Can you get out?" I said in reply.

葉 葉

"Your testing scores were a disappointment, especially considering you scored so well on your practicals," Umino scolded as he motioned for me to step forward.

"Testing isn't my thing," I replied, feeling nostalgic to stand in this room once more, trying to get a headband to protect this village. The room was exactly the same, right down to the desk where Umino and two other practitioners sat, waiting to decide whether I would leave here a failure.

I already knew the ones who failed their test completely were outside, hoping me, a child four years younger, would fail as well. That would not be me,

"Go ahead, a D ranked Jutsu," the woman on Umino's left said, her eyes were bright red, almost looking brighter with the dark color of her hair. I did recognize her as one of the Jounin sensei from my life as Misaki. The one on Umino's left was Asuma, the future Jounin sensei who would end up dying, leaving his pregnant wife all alone.

They were mere ghosts of the two Jounin that I had met in another life. I didn't want to think about Misaki anymore, she was a ghost as well.

I placed my hands together and next to me was an exact copy of myself. They looked bored, as it was a boring Jutsu, but their eyes scanned every last detail. "You paid much attention to the details," the red eyed Chuunin said, staring at every last spec of the clone.

"Yes. She always had a knack for the details, more so than any other of the graduates," hearing Umino give me a compliment was odd, almost nauseating. Ah, and it filled me with a tiny sense of pride.

"Why do you want to be a Shinobi?" Asuma asked and I almost paused, rather happy he said 'Shinobi', treating me as an equal instead of 'Kunoichi', treating me as a mere woman.

The last time I took this test, they merely watched the Jutsu get preformed, and gave the headband. It seemed the years of peace made the exam much more lax.

Worse than that, I knew I didn't have a proper answer for him. I wasn't on some noble mission and I didn't care about much of anything in this last.

The only thing I could do at this moment was be honest, "because why not."

She saw Umino rest his head in his hands as the two on his left and right chuckled. "Well, I look forward to seeing your career blossom, Izana Tsukasa." Umino tossed the headband my way, and I bowed, showing the first sign of respect towards him that I would likely ever show.

"Good luck," Asuma and the red eyed woman smiled.

The headband rested in my hands as I turned to walk out of the room. I made a promise in that moment, as the headband weighed heavily in my grasp.

 _I will not die this time._

"You're not wearing it?" Itachi asked as I sat in between him and Shisui, who was currently adjusting his headband from around his head.

"Neither are you," I replied, with a shrug.

"I'm well on my way to becoming the first Uchiha as Hokage," Shisui said with a grin.

"No one would vote for you," I said, watching the last of the students took the test. From what I could see, only 12 students passed and the rest went home, dejected and depressed.

"Okay," Umino said, exiting the room and staring at the 12 passing students, most of which were 12 to 13 years old while I myself was much younger. I grew slightly worried that they'd assign the three of us according to age, as to balance us all out. "The turn out is as we thought. Those that passed, congratulations, but this exam was the easy part. The tests of your comradery, bravery, and strength will happen with every mission. We learned about the death count in the Great Shinobi wars. We have set up your teams, using all that you've learned here to place you with the teams that you will be most suited to grow and fight alongside.

"I will call your names in order of your teams. Be prepared, we are pairing groups of three according to whether or not you will work well alongside. We are not pairing you up with your friends," Umino held up a folder, opening it.

It looked to me like they had deduced who would pass the exam and already created teams. How sly.

"Hold my hand guys. Let's pray," Shisui's voice made me roll my eye.

"Don't touch me," I muttered, watching as teams were made from all around us.

"And under team six, we have Uchiha Itachi, Izana Tsukasa, and Uchiha Shisui," Umino said, not sparing us a longer glance.

I rested my mouth against my palm, a genuine smile overtaking my face.

 **Author's Note**

Did you guys like it? I am not so sure, cause I felt like this chapter was kind of jumpy, having a lot of breaks to make up for my own short attention span.

Now, I did get a review from a very kind soul, saying that my updates take forever and that they forgot what happened if I take so long. That's my bad. That's why I have watching two hours of Itachi's backstory to get back my inspiration. Hopefully, I will get back to a regular updating schedule. I will do my best. If I fail, I am sorry! ^0^


End file.
